March 8, 2011
LEXINGTON, Ky. – University of Kentucky senior Andrea Mitchell has been named Southeastern Conference Gymnast of the Week after scoring Kentucky’s highest all-around score of 39.550 in over 15 years against Bowling Green and George Washington, the league office announced Tuesday.
Mitchell had the best meet of her career Friday on Senior Night as she paced the Wildcats to its season-best score of 195.650. The native of Knoxville, Tenn., set or tied a career high on three events during the meet, while taking home medalist honors on uneven bars, balance beam, floor exercise and in the all-around. Mitchell earned a career high on uneven bars with a 9.9, while tying a career high on balance beam with a 9.875 and floor exercise with a 9.95.
All told, Mitchell earned a career high all-around score of 39.550, which was over .300 higher than any other gymnast at the meet. The impressive all-around score of 39.550 is the highest for a UK gymnast since All-American Jenny Hansen posted a 39.650 in 1996. Mitchell has now won nine event honors this season, including two on bars, three on beam, two on floor and two in the all-around.
The Kentucky senior has helped rewrite school records since stepping on campus, becoming the first gymnast in school history to be named to the Freshman All-SEC Team. Mitchell also has some of the highest scores in school history as her 9.95 score on floor this season is the third highest mark in the UK record book, becoming only the seventh gymnasts in school annuals to score that high on floor. Mitchell’s career high 9.9 on bars is the fourth highest in program history.
Earlier this season, Mitchell won a historic all-around title on the road at Auburn, scoring a then-career high 39.275. The all-around title was the first for UK in a SEC dual meet on the road since Krystle Cook took home an all-around title at Arkansas on Feb. 24, 2006. The week prior, fellow senior Phylicia Reshard won the all-around title against Georgia, marking the first time since 2003 that UK has won back-to-back all-around titles in SEC action.
Mitchell has been a key part to Kentucky’s success this season, leading the Wildcats to several school-record team scores. At Ohio State, Mitchell tied a career high on vault with a 9.85, helping UK score a school-record vault score of 49.4. Then last week against George Washington and Bowling Green, Mitchell earned a career high 9.9 on bars to help UK tie a school-record bars score of 49.325.
Kentucky will be back in action with a double-meet weekend starting Friday at William & Mary at 7 p.m. ET. UK will then conclude its regular season with a quad-meet at Maryland with North Carolina and George Washington.
For more information on the Kentucky gymnastics team, visit UKathletics.com or follow “UKGymnastics” on Twitter and Facebook.
