Five Panthers Earn NACGC-W Honors
7/26/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
July 26, 2010
PITTSBURGH — Five University of Pittsburgh gymnasts have been named to the National Association of Collegiate Coaches for Women Academic All-American team.
In order to earn NACGC-W All-Academic team status, student-athletes must earn a grade point average of 3.5 (or higher) for the school year or a cumulative QPA of 3.5 or higher.
“My congratulations to all of the young women recognized by the NACGC/W as Scholastic All-Americans, and of course kudos to the five Panthers,” said head coach Debbie Yohman. “It is a widely known fact that NCAA gymnasts are top notch scholars and we have come to expect that our teams will usually be above a 3.0. However once again, our national list of Academic All-Americans has grown larger.”
Pitt honorees include, Dani Bryan, Jen Liberato, Molly Moyer, Krista Rubini and Lisa Taylor. Of the 509 gymnasts from 68 schools meeting the criteria, Pitt had two rank among the 197 with a GPA between 3.5-3.69, including Taylor (3.5, School of Rehab Science) and Moyer (3.61, exercise science).
Bryan (3.74, exercise science), Liberato (3.81, School of Rehab Science) and Rubini (exercise science) were among the 245 gymnasts who earned a GPA between 3.7-3.99.
This marks the second straight season Liberato (Malvern, Pa./Great Valley) has earned this honor, while Bryan (Germantown, Md./Northwest), Moyer (Telford, Pa./Buxmont Christian), Rubini (Newtown, Pa./Council Rock North) and Taylor (Odessa, Fla./Tampa) are first-time honorees.
“From a Pitt perspective, our athletes strive for this honor. Although they do find that they have to compete to be academically at the top, I think our just graduated class is indicative of the type of results our team members get,” added Yohman. “Bryan & Rubini will be attending graduate school in the fall;, Jessica Byich has already started her graduate work at Pitt in the School of Education; Sarah Thompson has deferred graduation to work on a second degree in athletic training to complement her degree in rehab science and Shannon McConnell is already working full time in Pittsburgh with a mortgage company. Our student-athletes are committed, motivated and have the resources to be successful in the classroom and the gym.”