University of Minnesota Athletics
ACADEMIC COUNSELING AND STUDENT SERVICES HONORS WOMEN SCHOLAR-ATHLETES
3/7/2001 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
Among the 180 women who were honored for posting a 3.0 or higher grade point average over the last year is an elite group honored with the Top Five Award. These five scholar-athletes are junior or senior Golden Gophers with the highest cumulative grade point averages within the Women's Athletics Department.
Cross country runner Corinne Nimtz (right) (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie) highlights the scholar-athletes earning the Women's Athletics' Top Five honor for the second year. Nimtz, a senior, owns a 3.93 grade point average in the Carlson School of Management, pursuing a marketing and business administration major. An Academic All-America nominee (fall honors yet to be announced), Nimtz goes down in Gopher women's cross country history as one of the first runners to compete at the NCAA Championship four times. She earned NCAA all-region honors last fall, then led the Gophers to a 26th-place team finish at the NCAA meet. A five-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree, Nimtz also competes on the track and field team in the spring and represents the cross country team on the Women's Athletics' Team Council.
Gymnast Megan Skokut (left) (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) joins Nimtz in garnering Top Five honors for a second year. Skokut, a senior biology major with a 3.92 grade point average in the College of Biological Sciences, ranks sixth in school history on uneven bars with a score of 9.90 three times in her career. She has competed on uneven bars the last eight meets and has competed on balance beam six times this season. Skokut is a two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection, the 2001 team captain and a gymnastics representative on Team Council.
The three scholar-athletes earning their first Women's Athletics' Top Five Award are gymnast Catie Christensen (Columbus, Ohio/Thomas Worthington), pole vaulter Erica Findlay (Whitewater, Wis./Whitewater) and tennis player Andrea Rose (North Vancouver, British Columbia/ Handsworth).
Christensen (left), a junior, owns the distinction of owning the highest cumulative grade point average of all Golden Gopher student-athletes, a 3.99 majoring in kinesiology in the College of Education and Human Development. Christensen ranks sixth in school history for both uneven bars and floor exercise with scores of 9.90 on each event. She tied her career high on uneven bars last week and has scored at least 9.80 on bars the last three meets. Christensen also averages 9.796 on floor exercise this season. She was an Academic All-Big Ten selection last season.
Findlay is a junior academically but has sophomore eligibility for the Gopher women's track and field team. Findlay owns a 3.91 grade point average in French and global studies within the College of Liberal Arts. She is the Gophers' top pole vaulter this season, coming within a quarter inch of the school record with an effort of 12-feet, 1/4 inch in a meet in February. Findlay placed 10th in the event at the recent Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships.
Rose, a junior, is a three-year member of the Golden Gopher women's tennis team. She owns a 3.972 grade point average majoring in biology and neuroscience within the College of Biological Sciences. She earned Academic All-Big Ten honors last spring
The first recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award was given to senior gymnast Shanyn Lancaster (Senior, Bloomfield Hills, Mich./ Lahser). The award recognizes the student-athlete who has best accomplished the four major areas emphasized by the NCAA Life Skills Program: leadership, academics, volunteerism and athletics.
Lancaster (left) has competed on vault all nine meets this season and ranks second in team history with a career-high 9.90 set in 1999. Lancaster averages 9.713 on vault over her four-year career. She has also competed on floor exercise, recording a career-high 9.85 earlier this season. Lancaster, a member of the Gophers' 1998 Big Ten champion team, owns a 3.53 grade point average majoring in finance and pre-medicine. She is a two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree. In addition to being an outstanding student and athlete, Lancaster volunteers and participates in several community outreach programs, including youth sport clinics, Girls Scouts, Special Olympics and the Wade Park Community Center.
As a whole, 81 Golden Gopher women student-athletics earned Academic All-Big Ten accolades over the last year. One Gopher earned Academic All-America honors, while four were tabbed as Academic All-District selections.
The Minnesota Women's Athletics Department recently celebrated its 26th consecutive academic term with over a 3.0 cumulative grade point average.
