University of Minnesota Athletics
Players Mentioned
That's a Wrap! 2018 Banquet
4/29/2018 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
The University of Minnesota women's gymnastics program wrapped up the 2018 season with their annual team banquet on Sunday.
The Gophers competed in their 23rd straight NCAA Regionals this past season. They finished ranked No. 22 overall, No. 10 on bars, were undefeated at home and set home attendance records for both regular season and postseason competition.
The coaching staff handed out four awards at the banquet:
MVP: Lexy Ramler
Ramler qualified for the NCAA Championships in the all-around and earned Second Team All-American honors on beam. She received Regular Season First-Team All-American honors on beam and Second-Team honors on both all-around and bars. She was also named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
The St. Michael, Minn. native won eight all-around titles this season. She took 34 podium finishes, was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week five times and the Gymnast of the Week four times. She finished with a 39.485 all-around RQS which led the entire conference. Her 39.600 at Ohio State was the highest score by any conference gymnast in the regular season.
Most Improved: Hannah Hitchcock
Hitchcock set career highs on vault, bars and floor (her first ever season competing the event) this season. She had a 9.850 high on vault, 9.925 on bars and 9.875 on floor. The senior took home 11 podium finishes and one event title. For the first time in her career she named to the All-B1G Team with Second Team honors.
Most Valuable Teammate: Lexi Montgomery
For the second year in a row, the Gophers named a Most Valuable Teammate. Montgomery worked her way into every lineup this season and it was noted at the banquet how supportive she was of all her teammates.
Mariam Award: Abbe DeMuse and Rachel Rowland
This award is named after Mariam Pourshoushtari, a former Gopher gymnast who survived meningitis. Her perseverance is a testament to what it means to dedicate all of your personal resources and willpower to achieve something. This honor is given to the gymnast that the coaches believe has done everything they can to be their very best.
Seniors DeMuse and Rowland both had to overcome injuries with hard work in and out of the gym, were constant leaders and positive role models for the entire Gophers team.
First Ever Senior Awards
For the first year, the seniors each made their own award and handed them out. Rowland chose Julia Huebert was the winner of the Meatball Award, Ciara Gardner picked Paige Williams for the Stepping Up Award, DeMuse selected Ona Loper for the Resilience Award and Hitchcock gave the Hitchy Award to Selena Ung.
Ramler, Loper, Montgomery, Mary Korlin-Downs and Sarah Grace Quinn all received their letter jackets at the event as well.
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