SOUTH ALABAMA
*Kane Wommack leads the Jaguars to the best football season in school history.
The season didn’t end the way the Jaguars wanted, but the New Orleans Bowl loss to Western Kentucky doesn’t erase a tremendous step forward for the program. South Alabama won 10 games for the first time in school history and shared the Sun Belt Conference West Division title with Troy.
*South Alabama’s men’s basketball team wins 21 games and advances to the postseason.
Richie Riley’s team won 21 games, marking the most victories in a season since the 2007-08 team won 26 games. The Jaguars advance to the semifinals of The Basketball Classic in the postseason.
*Distance runner Kirami Yego captured All-American honors in cross country.
Yego becomes just the fourth runner in school history to be selected All-American, joining Tonny Okello (2004, 2005), David Kimani (1999) and Jeff Campbell (1991).
Yego also broke a 22-year indoor track school record in the 5000m. Yego finished in 13:38.45, which beat the record of 13:42.23 set by Kimani in 2000.
*South Alabama sells out Hancock-Whitney Stadium for the first time.
A stadium record crowd of 25,450 was on hand for the Jaguars’ 10-6 loss to Troy in the annual ‘Battle for the Belt’ football game on Oct. 20. It was the sixth largest crowd in program history with the other five coming at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
TROY
*Jon Sumrall’s first season as the Troy head football coach is historic.
Sumrall, a Huntsville native, led his team to 12 wins and a Sun Belt Conference championship. He was the SBC Coach of the Year and a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award.
*Linebacker Carlton Martial becomes all-time leading tackler in NCAA Division I history.
The former walk-on from Mobile finishes his storied career with 565 tackles. Former record holder Tim McGarigle had 546 tackles during his career at Northwestern.
*Troy women’s basketball team wins Sun Belt Conference regular season championship.
The beat goes on for Chanda Rigby’s program. The Trojans won a league title for the fifth time in seven years. Last season’s team went 24-8 overall, 13-2 in regular season conference play and lost to visiting Alabama in the first round of the WNIT.
*Scott Cross leads his men’s basketball team to 20 wins.
The Trojans not only won 20 games but they played in the postseason for the first time in five seasons. The Trojans lost in the first round of the Roman Collegiate Basketball Invitational.
*School record season ticket sales in football.
Troy sold more than 11,000 season tickets for the first time in school history. The Trojans set a season attendance record of 25,661 per game and had a school-record crowd of 31,010 at Veterans Memorial Stadium for a win over Army.
To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email steve.irvine@1819news.com.
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