FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Jill Skotarczak ([email protected]) March 26, 2015

2015 SEC Gymnastics Awards Announced

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Southeastern Conference announced its annual gymnastics awards, voted on by the head coaches from each institution, to cap the 2015 season.

Florida senior was named the conference’s Gymnast of the Year, while LSU senior Lloimincia Hall was named the SEC’s Event Specialist of the Year. Paige Zaziski of Arkansas and Kennedy Baker of Florida share this year’s Freshman of the Year award, and senior Katelyn Trevino was named the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Auburn’s Jeff Graba and LSU’s D-D Breaux were selected as the SEC Co-Coaches of the Year.

Hunter is the nation’s top-ranked all-arounder with a Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) of 39.625. She is the only gymnast to appear in nation’s top 25 for each of the five events, and her four all-around totals are among the 2015’s top 10 to lead the nation. Hunter was the SEC Gymnast of the Week four times this season, claiming the honor nine times during her collegiate career. She was the all-arounder in each of Florida’s 11 meets in 2015, recording a career- and season-high eight wins. Hunter earned a share of first place in the vault and floor exercise during the 2015 SEC Championship, becoming one of five student-athletes in the 35-year history of the SEC Championships to claim at least one league event title each season of her career. Her seven SEC event wins is a Gator career record, and she leads Florida this season with 20 event titles (eight all-around, six, floor, four vault and two beam). She is third on Florida’s career charts for all-around (20) and event (79) wins. Earning a spot on the All-SEC Team for the fourth consecutive season, Hunter is one of six finalists for the 2015 AAI Award, given to the most outstanding senior female gymnast in the country.

Hall ranks as the nation’s No. 1 performer on floor in terms of RQS (9.975) and season average (9.941). For the fourth time in her four-year career, she won at least a share of the SEC floor exercise title with a 9.975 at the 2015 SEC Championship. Hall became only the second gymnast in conference history to win four SEC titles in the same event, joining Ashley Miles from Alabama, who won floor from 2003-06. A two-time recipient of the SEC Specialist of the Week award this year, she added two perfect 10.0 scores on floor this season to bring her career total to seven, the most on floor in LSU history. Hall is the only gymnast in the nation with two 10s on floor this season. She has captured seven individual titles this season, winning six on floor and one on vault. For her career, she holds 31 titles on floor, the most in LSU history.

Zaziski collected a total of seven event titles (four bars, two all-around and one beam) in her first season with the Razorbacks, all of which came in the final six meets of the regular season. She was the only freshman in the SEC to compete in the all-around in every single one of her team meets this season. Zaziski capped off the regular season with a personal-best 39.450 against No. 8 UCLA, which was the third-highest all-around score for a freshman in the SEC this season. Her 9.950 on the bars is the highest recorded score for a freshman in the SEC this season, tying the Arkansas overall and freshman record in the event. Zaziski earned the SEC Freshman of the Week honors three times this season.

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Baker is ranked No. 8 nationally with a floor RQS of 9.935, with five of her eight floor performances scoring 9.95 or better. She twice turned in floor exercise marks of 9.975, just the second Gator to turn in the nearly perfect mark on floor in UF history. Named SEC Freshman of the Week a league-high four times in 2015, Baker earned a share of third place in the floor exercise at the 2015 SEC Championship with a 9.95. She was a four-time event winner (two floor, one beam and one vault) during her rookie campaign, and was named to the 2015 SEC All-Freshman Team.

Trevino earned her bachelor’s degree in Communications with a minor in Spanish from Missouri, and is currently working towards her Master of Education in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in Positive Coaching, boasting a 3.967 grade point average. After missing the last two seasons with season-ending injuries, she competed on bars all 12 meets and was in the vault lineup the final eight meets of the season, setting new career highs on both events. Trevino scored over a 9.8 on vault five times this season, including a career high 9.900 on vault on Feb. 8, winning the vault title. She also scored a career-high 9.825 on bars each of the last two meets, including the 2015 SEC Championship. Trevino is two-time member of the Winter SEC Academic Honor Roll and has been selected to the SEC Honor Roll each year since Mizzou joined the conference.

Graba guided Auburn to earn the No. 4 seed at the 2015 SEC Gymnastics Championship, marking the first time in program history that the Tigers appeared in the second session of the championship. Auburn maintained its No. 8 national ranking, its highest final regular season ranking in history, and increased its RQS to a program record 197.045 as the Tigers were selected as the No. 2 seed for the NCAA Regional in the home confines of Auburn Arena.

Breaux led LSU to a perfect 7-0 record against SEC opponents in the regular season. The Tigers, the runner-up at the 2015 SEC Championship, earned the No. 4 overall national seed and will compete as the No. 1 seed at the NCAA Ames Regional. Breaux’s program will enter the competition ranked in the Top 5 on all four events: No. 1 ranking on floor, No. 2 on vault, No. 4 on beam and No. 5 on bars.

The All-SEC Team is comprised of the student-athletes with the top two scores (including ties) on each event and in the All-Around competition in the first session and second sessions of the SEC Championship. The All-Freshman Team is comprised of the freshmen student-athlete with the top score (including ties) on each event in the first session of the SEC Championship and the student-athlete with the top score (including ties) on each event in the second session of the SEC Championship. The All-Freshman Team will also include the freshmen student-athletes with the top two all-around scores (including ties) in the first session of the SEC Championship and the freshmen student-athletes with the top two all-around scores (including ties) in the second session of the SEC Championship.

All eight SEC schools have earned a spot in the 2015 National Collegiate Women's Gymnastics Championships regionals, slated to take place on Saturday, April 4. The top two teams from each regional will receive an automatic berth to the 2015 NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships, which will take place April 17-19 at the Fort Worth Convention Center Arena in Fort Worth, .

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2015 SEC Gymnastics Awards

Gymnast of the Year: Kytra Hunter, Florida Event Specialist of the Year: Lloimincia Hall, LSU Co-Freshmen of the Year: Paige Zaziski, Arkansas and Kennedy Baker, Florida Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Katelyn Trevino, Missouri Co-Coaches of the Year: Jeff Graba, Auburn and D-D Breaux, LSU

All-SEC Team Lauren Beers Alabama Alex McMurtry Florida Kaitlyn Clark Alabama Florida Keely McNeer Alabama Gigi Marino Georgia Carley Sims Alabama Mary Beth Box Georgia Heather Elswick Arkansas Rachel Schick Georgia Amanda Wellick Arkansas Brittany Rogers Georgia Paige Zaziski Arkansas Taylor Puryear Kentucky Lexus Demers Auburn Sydney Waltz Kentucky Abby Milliet Auburn Rheaghan Courville LSU Megan Walker Auburn Lloimincia Hall LSU Kennedy Baker Florida Myia Hambrick LSU Claire Boyce Florida Jessie Jordan LSU Bridgette Caquatto Florida Laura Kappler Missouri Kytra Hunter Florida

All-Freshman Team Paige Zaziski Arkansas Abby Milliet Auburn Kennedy Baker Florida Alex McMurtry Florida Gigi Marino Georgia Natalie Vaculik Georgia Cori Rechenmacher Kentucky Myia Hambrick LSU Becca Schugel Missouri

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