For the second year in a row, five University of Alabama athletics teams have been honored with the NCAA Division I Public Recognition Award, the NCAA announced Wednesday. The Crimson Tide and Auburn were the only two Southeastern Conference schools that had more than four teams earn the honor.

"We are extremely proud that so many of our programs earned this prestigious honor and that we continue to stand at the pinnacle of the Southeastern Conference when it comes to this important academic benchmark," UA Director of Athletics Bill Battle said.

The Alabama gymnastics, women's golf, women's tennis, women's swimming and diving and men's cross country squads all earned the honor in 2016. The women's golf team was honored for the sixth year in a row while women's tennis was recognized for the fifth consecutive year. Gymnastics and men’s cross country both earned the accolade for the second year in a row.

Each year, the NCAA honors selected NCAA Division I sports teams by publicly recognizing their latest multiyear NCAA Division I Academic Progress Rate.  This announcement is part of the overall Division I academic reform effort and is intended to highlight teams that demonstrate a commitment to academic progress and retention of student-athletes by achieving the top APRs within their respective sports.  Specifically, these teams posted multiyear APRs in the top 10 percent of all squads in each sport.

"As proud as we are of the five Crimson Tide teams that earned this honor in 2016, we are even more proud of the sustained excellence Alabama Athletics has displayed by having at least one team earn this accolade very year since its inception in 2005," Battle said.

Crimson Tide teams have earned the NCAA honor 28 times over the past nine years. The overall APR report covering all sports will be released next week.

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