2008 All-Bama, Bama Rookie teams

Now, the moment you all have been waiting for …

Voting began a week ago for the 2008 All-Bama and Bama Rookie teams. In total, 59 ballots were cast in the last week for the awards. The ballot featured players from each team that participated in Bama Sectionals 2008. 34 of those players were on the ballot for the All-Bama teams and 13 were on the ballot for the Bama Rookie team.

Without further ado, I give you the Bama Section Player of the Year, Bama Section Rookie of the Year, All-Bama and Bama Rookie teams for 2008.

Bama Section Player of the Year

For the second year in a row, LSU’s Chris Bankhead earns the honor of being named the Bama Section POY. Last year, he shared the award with Alabama’s Anthony DiGiacco. This year, Bankhead is the sole recipient of the award.

Bankhead appeared on 71.2 percent of the ballots cast, receiving a total of 42 votes. He scored six more votes than the Bama Section POY runner-up, Ole Miss’ Ben Deneka (36 votes).

Bankhead may return to LSU next spring to try to make it a Bama Section POY three-peat.

Bama Section Rookie of the Year

A young LSU team faltered in its attempt to make Regionals this year. But the future looks bright for Purple Haze with Daniel “Dirty D” Vermaelen in the fold for at least three, maybe four, more seasons.

LSU sweeps the Bama Section’s highest honors as Dirty D showed up on 61.0 percent of the total ballots cast, scoring a total of 36 votes. He finished seven votes higher than the Bama Section ROY runner-up, Ole Miss’ Parker Byrd (29 votes).

Hit the jump to see the rest of the awards.

All-Bama First Team
Chris Bankhead [LSU]
Ben Deneka [Ole Miss]
Josh Currey [Alabama]
Ray Davenport [Auburn]
Arthur Corbitt [Mississippi State]
Todd Springer [Tulane]
John Clemmer [Mississippi State]*
Hayden Sewell [Ole Miss]*

All-Bama Second Team
Eliot Alexander [Vanderbilt]
Joshua Kipp [Ole Miss]
Justin Miller [Vanderbilt]
Phil Martin [Auburn]
Andy Hardaway [Vanderbilt]
Michael Schulz [LSU]
Lucien Bruno [Tulane]**
Wes Bullock [Auburn]**

All-Bama Third Team
David Hilgeman [Birmingham Southern]
Gamble Ruff [Auburn]
Bjorn Hubert-Wallander [Vanderbilt]
Steve “Zeke” Zittrower [Vanderbilt]
Lee Berg [Tulane]
Scott Tran [Mississippi State]
Joe Oaks [Alabama]***
Andrew Lohrisch [Ole Miss]***

*Clemmer and Sewell tied with 16 votes
**Bruno and Bullock tied with 10 votes
***Oaks and Lohrisch tied with five votes

All-Bama Rookie Team
Daniel “Dirty D” Vermaelen [LSU]
Parker Byrd [Ole Miss]
Hunter Murray [Mississippi State]
Clay Warden [Mississippi State]
Brad Cink [Auburn]
Charles Swift Northen V [Mississippi State]
Andrew Austermann [Tulane]

Congratulations to all of these players and all the players nominated for awards.

The ballot contained at least one player from every team that played at Sectionals. As long as these teams continue to compete and grow, more and more players will be nominated for recognition in the future.

Best of luck to all teams, especially those representing the Bama Section this year at South Regionals. If you played against any of the four teams — Auburn, Ole Miss, Alabama and Mississippi State — heading to Baton Rouge, please show your support for them on rec.sport.disc.