Record awarded Bryant-Jordan scholarship

Mountain Brook High School’s Tate Record has been named a scholar athlete by the Bryant-Jordan Student-Athlete Scholarship Program.

The Bryant-Jordan Student-Athlete Scholarship Program began in 1986 by the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and the AHSAA to recognize student-athletes who excel in the classroom and on the competition field. Ninety-six scholarships, totaling over $800,000, are awarded annually to Alabama student-athletes.

Record is a senior at Mountain Brook who has run cross-country and track for six years with the Spartans, specializing in the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs with the track and field teams.

The athletic achievements are special to Record, but being able to excel in academics as well stands out to him.

“I’m thankful to have received an award that really values what I did in high school,” he said. “My good grades have always shown my hard work, and I’m incredibly thankful for them, but that only shows one side of me. Yeah, I’ve always gone to school, but I’ve also been running every afternoon for six years. Unlike school, running has been something that by no means comes naturally, and it’s been a sport that constantly humbles and motivates me. I am so beyond grateful to be honored not only for who I was in the classroom but who I was with my coaches, teammates and best friends.”

Record was a part of the Mountain Brook cross-country team that finished in second place at sectionals and third place at the state meet in the fall of 2018. He also was honored as a National Merit semifinalist earlier in the school year.

He said he thinks his achievements working with local children also helped him land this honor.

“I think my hard work academically really showed through my grades and test scores, but I think I stood apart from the other scholar athletes with the Mountain Brook Summer Runners Club I created and led last summer,” Record said. “My teammates and I were able to run with kids in kindergarten through sixth grades three times a week and show them that running could actually be fun. I was blown away by these kids’ positive attitudes and really proud of how the club turned out. They were some of the best kids I have ever met.”

Record made sure to thank everyone who has helped him along the way through high school.

“Academic excellence is something that has been an important goal of mine for a while,” he said. “My teachers, coaches and classmates have helped me grow into a person who has respect for others, confidence in himself, genuine interest in understanding more about the world around him and a desire to excel while bringing others with him. Most of the academic success I’ve had are blessings from God wildly out of my control.”