Aug. 13, 2011
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Four University of Kentucky gymnasts have been named Scholastic All-Americans for the 2011 season the National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches/Women recently announced. p>
“I am very proud of these four for their dedication in the classroom this past season,” UK head coach Tim Garrison said. “One of the goals of this program moving forward is to continually increase our number of Academic All-Americans and show a huge emphasis on academics.”
Making the list for the Wildcats was current senior Storey Morris and juniors Caitlyn Ciokajlo and Caitlin Satkowiak, while the fourth Kentucky All-America honoree was 2011 senior Phylicia Reshard. This is the first such honor for all four gymnasts.
Kentucky’s four All-American honorees is the highest mark for the program since it placed four on the list in 2003. Kentucky’s highest mark in school history is nine, which was set in 2001.
All four honorees also had good years in the gym, helping lead the Wildcats to a school-record team score in an NCAA Regional with a 195.175 mark. During the regular season, Kentucky set a school-record team score on vault with a high mark of 49.4, while the Wildcats tied the school-record team score on uneven bars with a 49.325.
Morris, who was a co-captain for the Wildcats last season, provided great leadership and consistency to the team. The native of Tyler, Texas competed on uneven bars in every event, while also making the lineup on balance beam for every meet but one. Morris set a career-high score on both bars and balance beam during the season. Morris’ 9.9 score on bars against George Washington and Bowling Green State University tied the fourth-highest mark in school history on that event.
One of the key underclassman on UK’s 2011 roster was Ciokajlo. The Brooklyn, Mich., native was arguably one of Kentucky’s best gymnasts on bars, anchoring the UK lineup with a season average of 9.656. Ciokajlo took home three event titles during the season, while also setting career highs on bars and beam.
Satkowiak saw action in several meets for UK last season, competing as an exhibition on beam. Although she did make a UK rotation last season, the native of Westerville, Ohio, provided depth to the Wildcats on beam and showed great improvement on the event throughout the season.
Reshard had a splendid senior season for UK, competing as an all-around competitor in all but two events. The native of West Chester, Ohio averaged a 9.812 on vault, 9.641 on bars, 9.797 on beam and 9.824 on floor exercise. Reshard’s best performance of the year came at Ohio State when she stuck a vault to score 9.95, which tied the third-highest score in school history.
The NACGC/W annually awards Scholastic All-America honors to student-athletes who finish the current academic school year with a 3.5 grade point average or higher. A total of 501 gymnasts from 62 universities made the 2011 list.
