Eight Gymnasts Earn Pac-12 All-Academic Honors
April 08, 2016 | Women's Gymnastics
SAN FRANCISCO – Juniors Silvia Colussi-Pelaez, Madeline Gardiner and Taylor Ricci and sophomore Shireen Khamedoost led eight Oregon State gymnasts who were recognized for their work in the classroom when the 2016 Pac-12 Conference Women's Gymnastics All-Academic teams were announced today.
It is the second all-academic award for Gardiner and Ricci and first for Colussi-Pelaez and Khamedoost. Kaytianna McMillan earned second team honors, her first such honor after receiving honorable mention last season. Dani Dessaints, Megan Jimenez and Jamie Radermacher were named honorable mention. It is the first academic awards for Dessaints and Radermacher and the second honorable mention selection for Jimenez.
To be eligible for selection to an all-academic team, a student-athlete must have a minimum 3.0 overall grade-point average and have participated in at least 50-percent of competitions in the regular season.
Colussi-Pelaez, a junior from Oakville, Ontario, performed in the uneven bars and balance beam lineups for the Beaver in 2016. She established a new career-mark on the beam (9.900) and registered a season-best 9.825 on the bars hitting 16 out of 18 routines this season. Colussi-Pelaez is majoring in chemical engineering.
Gardiner, a junior from Cambridge, Ontario, has performed in the all-around in all 12 meets in 2016 and has 'hit' 47 out of 48 routines this season. This year, the Pac-12 All-Conference First Teamer in the all-around has set new personal-bests beam (9.950) and tied career-marks on vault (9.900), bars (9.875) and in the all-around (39.500). Last month, she scored 9.950 on the beam to tie for the Pac-12 balance beam title and earned second team Regular Season All-America honors from the National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches/Women (NACGC/W). Gardiner, who is majoring in exercise and sport science, leads the Beavers with 15 individual titles this year.
Khamedoost, a sophomore from Bountiful, Utah, competed on the uneven bars in every meet and the vault 11 times in 2016. She posted a season-best and team-high 9.850 on the bars at the NCAA Athens Regional and added a season-high 9.775 and hit 22 out of 23 routines. Khamedoost is majoring in exercise and sport science.
Ricci, a junior from North Vancouver, B.C., performed on the vault and floor exercise in all 12 meets in 2016, hitting 24 out of 25 routines. Ricci established career-bests on the floor (9.875) and beam (9.500) to go with a season-high 9.825 on the vault. Ricci is majoring in exercise and sport science with plans to pursue medical school upon graduation.
McMillan, a junior studying human development and family sciences with a minor in psychology from Coburg, Ore., earned NACGC/W Regular Season All-America First Team accolades on the uneven bars in 2016. McMillan set career-bests on the bars (9.950) and beam (9.950) with season-bests of 9.900 on floor, 9.825 on vault and 39.175 in her only all-around appearance. She hit all 30 routines she performed this season.
Dessaints, a sophomore majoring in sociology, performed in the anchor positions of the vault (9.900) and uneven bars (9.850) lineups in the season-opener establishing career-bests on both events. The Las Vegas, Nev. native, suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in training the following week.
Jimenez, a junior studying digital communication arts from Temecula, Calif., began the season in three lineups before settling into the vault and beam in all 12 meets hitting 25 out of 28 routines. Jimenez established career-high marks on beam (9.825) and floor (9.825) and set a season-best 9.850 on the vault.
Radermacher, a senior studying human development and family sciences, hit all 12 of her routines on the floor exercise in 2016, The Tualatin, Ore. native transferred to OSU from Eastern Michigan in 2015 and hit all 15 routines of her OSU career setting a career-high of 9.900 on the floor this year.
Gardiner, who qualified to NCAA Championships as an individual all-around competitor, and Risa Perez, who reach nationals as an individual event specialist on the balance beam, travel to the NCAA Championships at Fort Worth, Texas next Saturday, April 15.
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