NCAA Runner-Up Morgan Scott Announces Plans for 5th Year at Alabama

The University of Alabama has at least three seniors returning for a fifth year as NCAA runner-up Morgan Scott announced she will be returning to Alabama for another year.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CezWEMzp23h/

“can’t get rid of me that easily… looking forward to taking on another year with the hardest working team in the NCAA🤩 the tide continues to roll🐘❤️”

Scott is now the third Alabama All-American to announce their plans to use their COVID-19 fifth year within the last few weeks. Olympic backstroker Rhyan White and distance freestyler Kensey McMahon have already announced their returns.

Scott scored 32 individual points at NCAAs this year which was the second-highest on the team only behind White. There Scott finished second in the 100 freestyle (46.78) and fourth in the 50 freestyle (21.43).

Scott also led off Alabama’s 800 freestyle relay that finished 14th, swam the second leg on their runner-up 200 freestyle relay, swam the butterfly leg of their fourth place 200 medley relay, was the butterfly leg of their sixth place 400 medley relay, and swam the second leg of their third place 400 freestyle relay. In total, Scott was on all five of Alabama’s relay, and they finished in the top eight in all but one.

All of these swims contributed to Alabama’s fourth place finish in Margo Geer’s first season as head coach of the Crimson Tide. With Scott announcing her return, the only remaining NCAA scorer that has not announced a decision yet for next year is Kalia Antoniou who scored nine points.

Scott arrived at Alabama after spending her freshman year at Indiana.

As seen in the chart above, Scott made great strides each year, but especially made a huge jump this past season. Prior to this year, Scott had never been sub-22 in the 50 freestyle.

So far, Scott is an 18x All-American. She also was named SEC Swimmer of the Year this past season and has been on the SEC Academic Honor Roll in each of her three years at Alabama.

Recently, Scott competed at the International Team Trials. There she finished 15th in both the 50 free (25.53) and 100 free (55.53). She also swam in prelims of the 200 free swimming a 2:03.52 to finish 35th.

Athletes were allowed an extra year of eligibility due to COVID-19 during the 2020-2021 season. Many athletes took this extra year this season, but the number is expected to fall over the next few years.

The biggest difference between this season’s fifth years and future season’s is the scholarship cap. Women’s swimming is allowed  14 total scholarships per team. This season, 5th year seniors didn’t count toward that cap unless they transferred. In future seasons, 5th year seniors will count against the cap, until the waiver expires. This means that Scott’s scholarship next season will count towards the 14.

This shift in policy for future seasons means that we will likely see fewer swimmers taking advantage of the opportunity.

Scott graduated from Alabama with an undergraduate degree in Kinesiology. She is now pursuing a Master’s of Science in Population Health Sciences. She hopes to one day become a Physician’s Assistant and wants to further her learning as much as possible before going to graduate/PA school.

When asked what her motivation for returning for another year was, Scott told SwimSwam “Of the 3 years that I have attended the University of Alabama, I have achieved every dream I had when I was a little girl, except for one. Training in Tuscaloosa will give me another year of eligibility and another year to train for my dream of becoming an Olympian. This program has given me everything and more and I want to support this team to more victories. Saying I am excited for this team’s future is an understatement. We have big goals that are going to take a lot of work, but I have no doubt that we will succeed.”