Strode named SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year

FAYETTEVILLE – University of Arkansas senior Blake Strode has been named the Southeastern Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year and a member of the first team All-SEC, the league office announced today. Last year, Strode shared scholar-athlete honors with LSU’s Kevin Dessauer. This is his second time named to the All-SEC first team.

“What can you really say about Blake?” head Arkansas coach Robert Cox said. “For all those who know Blake, this award doesn’t catch us off guard. Blake is a tremendous student-athlete, the epitome of what a student-athlete should be.”

Strode, who is majoring in international economics and Spanish, was a finalist for the H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award and was named runner-up for the Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship earlier this month.

Always a force in the classroom as well as on the court, Strode boasts a 3.972 grade-point average and plans to focus on tennis immediately following graduation before going on to law school. He has already been accepted to law programs at Duke, Georgetown, NYU and Harvard.

“The Arkansas tennis program is very proud of Blake,” Cox said. “His ability to balance strong academics with superior achievement on the court is a testament to who he is as a person.”

In May, Strode will showcase his prowess on the tennis court as the No. 15 seed at the NCAA Men’s Tennis Singles Championship, May 20-25. The NCAA Championship draw will be announced May 19th, a day before competition begins at Texas A&M’s George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station, Texas.

For complete coverage of Arkansas men’s tennis, visit ArkansasRazorbacks.com.