The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Hall of Honor
- Induction:
- 2010
- Class:
- 2001
A dual-sport All-American in track and field (high jump) and volleyball, Aldrich transferred to Texas from Arizona prior to the spring 1998 semester. One of the most decorated high jumpers in school and Big 12 Conference history, Aldrich was a four-time NCAA Champion, a six-time All-American and a six-time Big 12 Champion in the high jump. As a sophomore in 1998, she swept the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor high jump titles, becoming the first individual in school history to accomplish the feat. Her leap of 6-5.5 at the 1998 NCAA Indoor meet set an indoor collegiate record at the time. Aldrich also captured the 1999 NCAA Indoor and 2000 NCAA Outdoor high jump crowns. She helped lead the Longhorns to four consecutive NCAA Track and Field team championships (1998 Indoor, 1998 Outdoor, 1999 Indoor and 1999 Outdoor), an accomplishment matched by only one other school (LSU) in NCAA Division I Women’s Track and Field history. Aldrich captured six consecutive Big 12 Conference high jump titles (three indoor, three outdoor) from 1998-2000, and she is just one of two athletes in league history to win six high jump crowns. To this date, she holds five of the top eight jumps in UT indoor history and four of the top eight jumps in school outdoor history, including sharing the top outdoor mark (6-4.75) with Destinee Hooker. On the volleyball court, Aldrich was a two-year letterwinner who claimed Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and All-Big 12 First Team honors as a junior in 1998. In her senior season (1999), she earned AVCA All-America First Team and Volleyball Magazine All-America Third Team accolades. Aldrich led the team in hitting percentage (.325), kills (470) and blocks (174) and became just the second person in UT history to record at least 450 kills, 300 digs and 150 blocks in a season. A unanimous All-Big 12 First Team choice, she led the nation in triple-doubles with six and also set the UT single-match record for kills with 32 against Baylor. Aldrich was tabbed the Big 12 Conference Female Athlete of the Year in 1999-2000, and she also earned Academic All-Big 12 First Team honors in volleyball in 1999 and was a two-time Academic All-Big 12 First Team pick in track and field (1999 and 2000). Following her collegiate career, Aldrich made the U.S. Olympic Track and Field team and competed in the high jump at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. She returned to the volleyball court and played three seasons (2001-03) with the U.S. National Team, leading the squad to a bronze medal at the 2003 Pan American Games. Aldrich played professional volleyball in Italy for five years (2003-07) and was named to the 2004 and 2005 Italian A1 Professional Volleyball League All-Star teams. She still found time in the high jump to claim spots on four U.S. World Championships teams (1997, 2001, 2005 and 2007) and an alternate spot on the 2004 U.S. Olympic team, and she finished her 2005 track season with a Top 20 world ranking. Aldrich later played professional volleyball in Japan during the 2007-08 season. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Journalism in 2001. Aldrich has now returned to the UT campus and is on pace to receive her Master’s degree in Business Administration from the prestigious McCombs School of Business in May 2011.
