# UK hurdler Scales honored as CSC Academic All-American **Published:** 2026-07-15T18:28:31.000Z **Source:** [UK Athletics](https://ukathletics.com/news/2026/07/15/emmi-scales-named-to-csc-academic-all-america-third-team/) **AI-generated:** yes (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) **Canonical:** https://feeds.lexingtonky.news/article/uk-hurdler-scales-honored-as-csc-academic-all-american LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky junior Emmi Scales has been named to the [College Sports Communicators Academic All-America Third Team](https://ukathletics.com/news/2026/07/15/emmi-scales-named-to-csc-academic-all-america-third-team/), marking the first time in her career the standout hurdler has received the prestigious national honor from CSC. The announcement came Wednesday from the College Sports Communicators, the premier membership association for athletic communicators. Scales joins 13 other Division I athletes selected to the third team, including three other SEC athletes: Texas' Carleta Bernard, Arkansas' Sydney Vaught and Tennessee's Amelia Willis. Scales capped a historic 2026 season for the Wildcats, winning SEC Championship gold medals in both the indoor 60-meter hurdles and outdoor 100-meter hurdles. Her 7.83-second time in the indoor event moved her into second place on Kentucky's all-time list, trailing only Olympian Masai Russell. In the outdoor 100-meter hurdles, Scales improved her career best to 12.64 seconds and now ranks fourth in UK history. Heading into the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Scales remained unbeaten against collegiate competition throughout the 2026 season, accumulating three event wins and posting the top qualifying mark at the East First Round. The junior also earned SEC Women's Co-Runner of the Year honors earlier this season. Off the track, Scales maintains strong academic performance with a 3.817 grade point average after the spring semester, currently majoring in criminal justice. She has received USTFCCCA Academic All-America honors in both 2024 and 2025 and has appeared on the SEC Academic Honor Roll for three consecutive seasons. To qualify for Academic All-America honors, student-athletes must carry at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average and be significant contributors to their teams. Scales' selection underscores her excellence in balancing elite athletic performance with rigorous academic achievement. ## Sources - [UK Athletics](https://ukathletics.com/news/2026/07/15/emmi-scales-named-to-csc-academic-all-america-third-team/) - [Information about Scales' 2026 season performance and SEC honors](https://ukathletics.com/news/2026/03/12/emmi-scales-named-sec-womens-co-runner-of-the-year/) - [College Sports Communicators information about Academic All-America program](https://academicallamerica.com) --- This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) based on source material from UK Athletics, enriched with 2 web searches. The original source is available at https://ukathletics.com/news/2026/07/15/emmi-scales-named-to-csc-academic-all-america-third-team/.