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CGA Names Wiskus 2020 MVP
4/9/2020 7:02:00 PM | Men's Gymnastics
While the 2020 season had an early ending, junior captain Shane Wiskus still made a significant impact for the Gophers and was named the 2020 College Gymnastics Association MVP on Thursday.
The annual award goes to the "most outstanding gymnast of the year, who has provided the greatest value to his team." Wiskus was one of 11 nominees for the award, and it is the first of his career.
"What an amazing career this young man has put together thus far at the University of Minnesota. Shane continues to operate at not only a high level of expertise, but he brings consistency to his craft and continues to be the rock of our program," Minnesota head coach Mike Burns said. "It's been a real pleasure to have a student-athlete of this caliber in our program."
Wiskus was the nation's No. 1 all-arounder at season's end with an NQA of 83.467. He also held the second-highest all-around score in the country, a career-high 84.600, which he recorded in front of a home crowd on Jan. 24 versus Illinois. He was recently named a CGA All-American for his all-around performance.
He also had a solid year on parallel bars and rings, events in which he received his eighth and ninth All-American honors. The 2019 NCAA event champion, Wiskus finished the year ranked No. 2 on parallel bars with an NQA of 14.467 and the second-highest score of the season, 15.100. This was also a career and team high, Minnesota's best parallel bars score since 2017, and its first score of over 15 since 2018.
Wiskus was ranked No. 5 on rings and boosted his final NQA from last season by nearly a point to finish at 14.067. He recorded a career and team-high score of 14.450 in the team's final meet at Michigan.
In four regular season meets, Shane recorded three all-around titles, seven event titles and six podium finishes. Only four of his 23 scores recorded this season came outside the top five, and he never finished lower than eighth place on any event. He was named CGA and Big Ten Gymnast of the week four times, and held the team's highest scores in all but two events.
Wiskus also competed in national meets during his collegiate season. He placed second all-around in February's Winter Cup (84.550) to retain his spot on the U.S. Senior National Team, and was selected to compete at the American Cup in March. In his American Cup debut, Wiskus placed fourth all-around amongst gymnasts from 10 other countries and posted four top-five finishes.
He made his first-ever World Championships appearance in October 2019 in Stuttgart, Germany, where the United States finished in fourth place and secured a team qualification for the Olympics.
Wiskus now has his senior season with the Gophers on deck and will look to realize his Olympic dreams at the rescheduled 2021 Tokyo Games.
The annual award goes to the "most outstanding gymnast of the year, who has provided the greatest value to his team." Wiskus was one of 11 nominees for the award, and it is the first of his career.
"What an amazing career this young man has put together thus far at the University of Minnesota. Shane continues to operate at not only a high level of expertise, but he brings consistency to his craft and continues to be the rock of our program," Minnesota head coach Mike Burns said. "It's been a real pleasure to have a student-athlete of this caliber in our program."
Wiskus was the nation's No. 1 all-arounder at season's end with an NQA of 83.467. He also held the second-highest all-around score in the country, a career-high 84.600, which he recorded in front of a home crowd on Jan. 24 versus Illinois. He was recently named a CGA All-American for his all-around performance.
He also had a solid year on parallel bars and rings, events in which he received his eighth and ninth All-American honors. The 2019 NCAA event champion, Wiskus finished the year ranked No. 2 on parallel bars with an NQA of 14.467 and the second-highest score of the season, 15.100. This was also a career and team high, Minnesota's best parallel bars score since 2017, and its first score of over 15 since 2018.
Wiskus was ranked No. 5 on rings and boosted his final NQA from last season by nearly a point to finish at 14.067. He recorded a career and team-high score of 14.450 in the team's final meet at Michigan.
In four regular season meets, Shane recorded three all-around titles, seven event titles and six podium finishes. Only four of his 23 scores recorded this season came outside the top five, and he never finished lower than eighth place on any event. He was named CGA and Big Ten Gymnast of the week four times, and held the team's highest scores in all but two events.
Wiskus also competed in national meets during his collegiate season. He placed second all-around in February's Winter Cup (84.550) to retain his spot on the U.S. Senior National Team, and was selected to compete at the American Cup in March. In his American Cup debut, Wiskus placed fourth all-around amongst gymnasts from 10 other countries and posted four top-five finishes.
He made his first-ever World Championships appearance in October 2019 in Stuttgart, Germany, where the United States finished in fourth place and secured a team qualification for the Olympics.
Wiskus now has his senior season with the Gophers on deck and will look to realize his Olympic dreams at the rescheduled 2021 Tokyo Games.
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