Marion Crowder of Mississippi and Rachel Garcia of Georgia received the prestigious honors from the Gatorade program, which annually recognizes one winner in each of the 50 states as well as the District of Columbia in high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track and field.Crowder is a midfielder/forward out of Madison, Miss., playing high school soccer at Madison Central and with the Mississippi Fire club team. As a senior in 2013 she scored 37 goals and chipped in 17 assists, leading the Jaguars to an 18-3-2 record and a place in the Cass 6A state quarterfinals. She is a member of the U.S. Soccer Federation U-18 Women’s National Team and was a first team all-state selection, named Miss Soccer by the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson. She maintained a 3.7 GPA and volunteered locally on behalf of U.S. Youth Soccer TOPSoccer Program, the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, and at local food drives for the needy.

Garcia is a forward out of Duluth, coming to UGA from Greater Atlanta Christian School and the GSA Phoenix club. She scored 53 goals and added 19 assists for GAC this season, leading the Spartans to a 19-2 record and a place in the Class AA state final. Garcia was named the 2012 Gwinnett County Player of the Year and the Region 6AA Player of the Year, wrapping up her high school career with 146 goals and 45 assists. She has a 4.01 GPA and has volunteered at local homeless shelters, as a youth soccer coach, and through service missions to Guatemala and Mexico.

[Dog Bytes Online]

Is it fair to keep permanent cross-division rivals to save 2 historic games? My solution is restructuring the divisions. It’s rather simple, really. You move Alabama and Auburn to the SEC East and place Missouri and Vanderbilt in the SEC West. The short-sighted nature would easily show that the East would have juggernauts of Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and South Carolina in the same division with Tennessee and Auburn having potential to improve drastically. The West would essentially have Texas A&M and LSU with all others lagging. For the short term, balance would not be achieved. However, Hugh Freeze is recruiting extremely well at Ole Miss (make your own determinations as to how he’s doing that), Arkansas has had their moments, and Dan Mullen is keeping Mississippi State competitive. Over time, I believe that the league would gain back the balance that there is now with LSU, Alabama, and Texas A&M in the West and Georgia, Florida and South Carolina in the East. This solution would protect the Georgia/Auburn and Tennessee/Alabama games while allowing for improved rotation in cross-divisional games by having a 6-3-3 schedule (6 divisional, 3 cross divisional, and 3 non-conference).[The Dawg House Truth]

Georgia diver Laura Ryan has been named to the United States roster for the World University Games.“Laura did a great job at the Trials,” Georgia diving coach Dan Laak said in a news release. “I was proud of how she dove and how she competed. She got a little lost on one dive that made the difference between the World Championship team and the World University Games team. But she fought back after the missed dive.Ryan qualified for the World University Games on 3-meter springboard and 3-meter synchro. Swimmers Melanie Margalis and Megan Romano previously were named to the United States team.Additionally, Georgia swim coach Jack Bauerle has been named to the board of directors for the College Swimming Coaches Association of America. Bauerle will serve as the Division I Men’s Swimming Representative.

[Dog Bytes Online]