March 8, 2013

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Former Kentucky gymnast and eight-time NCAA champion Jenny Hansen has been chosen as the Wildcats’ Southeastern Conference Tournament Legend for this year’s 2013 Class of Women’s Legends. Hansen will be honored at halftime of the UK Hoops’ quarterfinal game Friday, March 8. Game time is slated for 6 p.m. EST.

All 14 of the SEC Legends will be honored as a group during halftime of the first semifinal game on March 9, and they also will participate in an autograph session on the concourse between the two games. Complimentary posters of the Legends will be available at the session.

Hansen, a student-athlete at UK from 1993-96, graduated after winning three consecutive (1993–95) NCAA All-Around Championships. Those three championships are part of Hansen’s unprecedented eight total NCAA Championships. She also scored 28 career perfect 10’s and won 10 SEC titles.

One of her most valued honors was receiving the 1995 Honda Award for the Female Athlete of the Year.  The Somerset, Wis., native was a three-time Honda Gymnastics Award winner and a Sullivan Award finalist, which honors the nation’s best amateur athlete.  Hansen received 13 All-America honors, was voted the Kentucky Sportsman of the Year in 1995, and was named the most outstanding gymnast of the past 25 years by the NCAA. She is a member of the UK Athletics Hall of Fame and the Kentucky Hall of Fame.

Since leaving UK, Hansen has worked as a performing artist at Sea World and is currently working as a personal trainer for a popular TV series in southern California.