Women's Gymnasts of the Week – Jan. 30-Feb. 5, 2023

Gymnast of the Week
Hallie Copperwheat – Pittsburgh
Copperwheat earned a 9.925 on beam Friday night, tying for first on that event. The sophomore’s bars routine earned a 9.850—helping the team match the program record on that event with a 49.400. The Leighton Buzzard, England native also competed in the all around during both meets this weekend, earning first-place on Friday (39.400) and tying for third-place on Sunday (39.275).

Specialist of the Week
Kendall Whitman – George Washington
Whitman finished third overall on floor at the Denver quad meet with a 9.875, her second-straight 9.875 after recording the same score at Towson on Wednesday. The junior also competed beam for the first time this season on Sunday, earning a 9.775.

Co-Rookies of the Week
Reyna Garvey – Pittsburgh
Garvey tied for first place on beam—posting a 9.925 Friday against WVU. The freshman’s contribution on beam helped the team earn their second highest rotation score of the night with a 49.150. The Pittsburgh, Pa. native also claimed third place on Sunday at the Denver Quad meet on both floor (9.875) and in the all-around (39.275).

Isabella Minervini – Towson
Minervini posted a career best on floor of 9.900 to place second overall—earning the fourth-highest individual floor score in Towson history. The freshman also competed on bars, posting 9.825. In addition, the Fleming Island, Fla. native helped Towson to the fourth-highest bars and floor scores in school history.

Gymnast of the Week
Sydney Beers – Cornell
Week in and week out, Sydney proves to be incredibly consistent for the Big Red. While she continues to steadily improve on bars, she is very strong on vault, beam and floor. Beers had a personal best 9.9 on floor this week along with a season high 9.825 on vault. Sydney posted her second highest all-around score since last season. She placed 2nd on vault, tied for 7th on bars with a 9.5, 7th on beam with a 9.775, and 1st on floor.

Specialist of the Week
Campbell Marr – Penn
Campbell Marr earned career-high scores on both events she competed in a dual meet vs Cornell. Marr started off on vault with a 9.8, helping the Quakers to their 3rd highest vault score in program history of 49.075. Marr also notched a huge 9.925 beam routine, earning the beam title for the second week in a row, and helping the team to its season best beam total of 49.075 as well as the 4th highest overall score in program history of 195.25.

Newcomer of the Week
Michelle Ngo – William & Mary
The Tribe competed against The University of Alaska on Friday and Sunday. Michelle received a career high 9.8 on floor on day 1 where she placed 1st, and topped her score on day 2 with an improved career high of a 9.825, tying for 2nd place. The Tribe coaches have carefully constructed this floor routine for Ngo. Her choreography is polished and even the opposing team audience had a great time dancing along.

Gymnast of the Week
Hannah DeMers – Central Michigan
Senior Hannah DeMers helped lead the Chippewas to a MAC dual victory over Eastern Michigan on Senior Night at CMU’s McGuirk Arena. DeMers placed first and set a season high in the all-around with a 39.525 score. DeMers placed first, set season highs, and tied career highs on bars and floor, posting a 9.950 in both. She tied for first on vault (9.825) and placed fourth on beam with a season-best 9.800. DeMers led the Chippewas to a season-best 196.250 team total.

Specialist of the Week
Alyssa Al-Ashari – Northern Illinois
Alyssa Al-Ashari won both the uneven parallel bars and balance beam events Saturday in NIU’s Tri-Meet win over Kent State and Simpson. Al-Ashari scored a career high 9.925 on bars to take first place, then followed that with a 9.875 on balance beam to win that event. Al-Ashari is just the second gymnast in NIU history to record a career high score of 9.925 or better on both uneven parallel bars and balance beam.

Gymnast of the Week
Angelica Labat – Illinois State
Labat was dominant in the Redbirds victory Centenary and Bowling Green on Friday night. After a slow start on vault, Labat rallied in a big way to win the next three events of the night and capped it off with a career-high score of 9.900 to take home the title on floor. The event wins on bars, beam and floor helped her pick up an all-around title with a score of 39.125. It marked her third-straight all-around win in as many meets and gave her back-to-back 39 point plus performances.

Performance of the Week
Brooke Ferrari – Texas Woman’s
On February 5, at TWU’s home tri-meet against Iowa State and New Hampshire, Ferrari hit every skill in her bars routine and stuck the landing to record a new career-high of a 9.900 and place first in the event for the meet.

Newcomer of the Week
Nya Kraus – Lindenwood
The Canada native had an impressive outing, scoring a 9.825 on balance beam, 9.725 on bars and a 9.675 on vault. Kraus’ beam score was the second best out of everyone in the entire meet and also unlocked a new personal best score for the freshman. Kraus was a large part of the Lions’ impressive 195.425 team score, executing in all three events in which she competed this weekend.

Coaches’ Choice Award
Kaylee Cooper – Lindenwood
The sophomore was dominant in both events she competed in this weekend, winning the uneven bars with her 9.850 performance and reaching a new personal best on floor with her 9.775 score. Cooper brought an undeniable energy to both events, greatly helping the Lions to victory over Centenary and Greenville.

Gymnast of the Week
Lauren Macpherson – San Jose State
San Jose State junior Lauren Macpherson (Gilbert, AZ) won the all-around title with a 39.275 to lead the Spartans to a 196.300 team total at UC Davis (Feb. 5), a top-10 all-time team score in the MPSF and top-five in school history. Macpherson had a career-best 9.900 on floor, and contributed to three team event scores which were top-10 in school history—vault (49.000, T-7th), beam (49.075, T-8th), and floor (season-best 49.275, T-6th). This is the seventh career MPSF weekly award for Macpherson.

Specialist of the Week
Keanna Abraham – UC Davis
UC Davis sophomore Keanna Abraham (Bakersfield, CA) broke two school records in the same meet against San Jose State (Feb. 5). Abraham opened the dual with a 9.925 on vault to tie the second-best mark in MPSF history. She concluded the meet with a stellar 9.975 on floor, where one judge gave her a perfect 10. The score of 9.975 is the best regular season performance in the event all-time in the MPSF. This is the second career MPSF weekly award for Abraham.

Freshman of the Week
Amelia Moneymaker – UC Davis
UC Davis freshman Amelia Moneymaker (Sacramento, CA) placed third on floor with a career-high 9.90 to help the Aggies secure a top-three sweep in the event and post a school record score of 49.525, also ranking second all-time in the MPSF. She added scores of 9.75 on both vault and bars. This is Moneymaker’s first career MPSF honor.

Gymnast of the Week
Karley McClain – Southern Utah
SUU was led by senior Karley McClain, who earned her fourth-straight MRGC Floor Specialist of the Week with a 9.950 on the event and her fifth-straight MRGC Gymnast of the Week after scoring a 39.475 in the all-around, tying her season high.

Specialists of the Week
Vault – Adriana Popp, Boise State
Uneven Bars – Courtney Blackson, Boise State; Lindsey Hunter, BYU
Balance Beam – Mina Margraf, BYU
Floor Exercise – Karley McClain, Southern Utah

All-Around Gymnast of the Week
Kelsey Gates – Rhode Island College
Kelsey Gates had a good weekend bringing a 37.475 in the all around. She had her personal best on floor scoring a 9.875 and helped the team bring the highest team score of the season.

Co-Specialists of the Week
Kyra Figurelli – Brockport
Kyra Figurelli had an amazing performance on the floor, posting a 9.900 to win the event. It is her best and the nation’s best score of the year so far. She matched her 2022 NCGA Championship performance that earned her the national title on the floor. Brockport scored a 189.375 as a team to defeat Cortland and Rhode Island this past weekend.

Morgan Lunn – Rhode Island College
Morgan Lunn won beam at Cortland this weekend with a 9.7. Her constant hard work in the gym helped Morgan bring her personal best in that event and also on floor scoring a 9.725. She has been an amazing competitor all season and we were thrilled to see her best scores come this weekend.

Gymnast of the Week
Jordan Chiles – UCLA

• Won the all-around with a season-high 39.775 and captured first place on three events in the top-five showdown at No. 4 Utah last weekend, leading the Bruins to their second-highest score of the season (197.450).
• Her all-around score is the fifth-highest in the nation this season and was .025 off her career-best mark of 39.800.
• The Olympic Medalist stuck her double-twisting Yurchenko vault, the most difficult vault being attempted in the NCAA this year, scoring a career-high 9.975 to tie for first.
• Posted a 9.950 on floor and bars, taking the floor title and earning a share of the bar title.
• Added a 9.900 on beam to help UCLA to a season-high 49.575 on the event.
• Chiles has recorded 16 scores of 9.9 or higher on 20 routines this season, while she ranks tied for third in the country on bars (9.955), tied for sixth on floor (9.935) and eighth in the all-around (39.615).
• This is her second Gymnast of the Week honor of the season (Jan. 10) and fourth weekly award of her career.

Specialist of the Week
Maile O’Keefe – Utah

• The senior standout won two events and placed second in a third to lead Utah to a top-five win over UCLA (198.200-197.450) and become one of just three teams to hit the 198 mark in 2023.
• The reigning Pac-12 Specialist of the Year recorded her first perfect 10 of the season to win the beam and push the Utes’ team score to a 49.775, matching the school record on the event.
• Tied her season-high of 9.95 on bars to earn a share of the title, also helping Utah to a season-high score of 49.575 in the event.
• Added a season-high 9.925 on the floor to tie for second overall.
• O’Keefe leads the country on beam with a 9.970 average and is one 10.0 away from tying Utah’s all-time record of six for most career 10s in the event.
• This is her second career Pac-12 Specialist of the Week honor and her ninth weekly award overall.

Freshman/Newcomer of the Week
Selena Harris – UCLA

• Collects the award for the fifth straight week after posting her fifth all-around score of 39.5+ in as many meets to start her collegiate career.
• Finished third overall in the all-around in a top-five matchup at No. 4 Utah as the Bruins posted their second-highest team score of the season (197.450).
• Scored a career-high 9.950 on the beam to help UCLA to a season-high 49.575 score on the event.
• Has registered three scores of 9.9 or higher in every meet this season and has a total of 17 9.9-plus routines (out of 20), the most on the team.
• Her all-around average of 39.650 is fifth overall in the country, while her 9.910 on vault and her 9.895 on beam are both team-bests.
• Harris’ five consecutive Freshman/Newcomer of the Week awards ties a Pac-12 record for consecutive honors, held by Toni-Ann Williams from California in 2015. The all-time record for most honors in a season since the award was introduced in 2013 is six, held by Williams, Utah’s MyKayla Skinner (2017) and Oregon State’s Jade Carey (2022).

Coaches’ Choice
Emily White – Arizona State

• Matched her season-high in the all-around (39.400) to help the Sun Devils to their highest road score of the season (196.800 at No. 7 California).
• Tied her career high on the floor with a 9.900 to lead ASU to a season-high score (49.425) in the event.
• Finished fourth in the all-around and tied for fourth on the floor.
• Added a 9.800 on vault and a pair of 9.850s on bars and beam.
• Third straight week she scored 9.8 or higher on every event.
• Second Coaches Choice honor of her career and third weekly award overall for White.

Gymnast of the Week
Sunisa Lee – Auburn
Lee, a sophomore from St. Paul, Minn., won the all-around at No. 11 Alabama with a 39.825, tying the nation-leading score for the 2023 season. Lee recorded 10.0s on bars and beam, the first meet of her career with perfect marks. She also registered a 9.90 on vault to finish second and a 9.925 on floor to tie for third place. Lee’s performance helped Auburn post a season-high score of 197.700 on the road and the first time that the Tigers have scored a 197+ in Tuscaloosa in program history.

Specialist of the Week
KJ Johnson – LSU
Johnson, a sophomore from Dallas, Texas, matched her career-high score on floor with a 9.95 to tie for second place in the win over No. 17 Georgia. Johnson also placed fourth on vault with a score of 9.875 as the Tigers garnered the top four finishes in the event.

Freshman of the Week
Kayla DiCello – Florida
DiCello, a freshman from Boyds, Md., led the SEC freshmen last week with her all-around score of 39.475 in the win at No. 18 Arkansas. DiCello finished third to be a part of the Gator sweep in the all-around. She posted a collegiate-best 9.95 to finish second and tied her collegiate best of 9.925 on bars to take third place. DiCello also shared fourth place on vault with her second-highest mark of the season of 9.875.

All-Around
Cate Sandvik – UW-La Crosse
Sandvik (Sr., Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley), competing in the all-around for the first time in her career, recorded a score of 38.050 in UW-La Crosse’s dual win over UW-Oshkosh on Feb. 3. She was the only gymnast in the all-round. Sandvik won the balance beam with a season-high score of 9.650, while finishing second on the floor exercise with a score of 9.650. Sandvik helped UW-La Crosse with a Mitchell Hall facility record score of 192.000. The score broke the mark of 191.800 set by UW-La Crosse at the 2016 WIAC Championships/NCGA West Regional Championships.

Specialist
Rachel Chesley – UW-La Crosse
Chesley (So., Dellwood, Minn./Mahtomedi) won a pair of individual events in UW-La Crosse’s dual victory over UW-Oshkosh on Feb. 3. She captured the vault (tied season-high 9.775) and uneven parallel bars (9.700). Chesley also tied for third on the floor exercise (season-high 9.625). Chesley helped UW-La Crosse with a Mitchell Hall facility record score of 192.000. The score broke the mark of 191.800 set by UW-La Crosse at the 2016 WIAC Championships/NCGA West Regional Championships.