2011 Gymnastics Team Honored At Banquet
May 1, 2011
SEATTLE - The 2011 gymnastics season was a very special one for all of those involved, and Saturday afternoon at Salty's on Alki, friends, family and staff gathered with the team and coaches to reflect on the year.
Awards were handed out and goodbyes were said to the three seniors, Haley Bogart, Kristen Linton and Samantha Walior who were a part of the first recruiting class under the current coaches, Joanne Bowers, Shanna Hannan and David McCreary.
Each senior said some kind words about their family, coaches and teammates and created their own "Academy Awards" show, passing out awards such as, "The Top Head Coach," "Top Female Assistant," "Top Male Assistant," "Top Athletic Trainer," "Top Strength Coach," and "Top Doc."
Jon Horton, the Director of Video Services, gave the welcome to the banquet and ended the night by showing his 2011 highlight video.
Senior administration Karen Baebler spoke a few words about the team before Kim Durand from Academic Services passed out some academic awards.
Durand gave the 101 Club award to Walior. Sophomore Phoebe Tham earned the Fall 2010 Academic Achievement Award and junior Ruby Engreitz was also honored. The gymnasts that made the Academic All-Pac-10 teams were also recognized.
For seven out of 11 quarters that the senior class has been at UW, the gymnastics team has won the small team GPA award.
Bowers reflected on the season and thanked the entire team, staff and especially the seniors for a very special season. She then began the team awards with the assistant coaches. These awards were called "Creating Winners" and there were three categories.
The `In Competition' award went to Walior while Engreitz won the `In the Classroom' and "In Life' awards.
The special recognition award category was next. The "Senior Leadership" award went to the three senior captains, Bogart, Linton and Walior. The event specialists were, Amanda Cline for the vault, Engreitz for the bars and Linton for the floor.
Freshman Aliza Vaccher won the "Heart of a Champion" award and Bogart was named the "Top Dawg."
