Gator Gymnastics Team Holds Annual Awards Banquet
Monday, April 26, 2010 | Gymnastics
Freshman Ashan?e Dickerson received the University of Florida gymnastics team's Outstanding Gymnast award Sunday evening at the team's annual banquet, held in the Gator Room in the Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
Dickerson led the team with 22 event titles in 2010, which included seven all-around titles. At last week's NCAA Championships held in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center, she earned All-America first team honors for vault and floor exercise. She won the NCAA North Central Region with the top all-around total posted in any of the nation's six regional sites, 39.70, which is the highest total ever turned in by a Gator freshman. Dickerson was named the NCAA Southeast Region Gymnast of the Year – a first for the Gator program. The Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year also earned All-SEC first team honors after taking second in the league championships' all-around. The SEC honored her five times during the course of the 2010 regular season, as she claimed one SEC Gymnast of the Week honor and picked up the SEC Freshman of the Week four times. She turned in or shared the Gators' top 2010 marks for all-around (39.70), vault (9.95), balance beam (9.95) and floor exercise (9.95).
Dickerson shared the team's Newcomers of the Year award with fellow freshman Marissa King, as the two combined to make big impacts on the conference and national scenes. In last week's NCAA action, King earned four All-America honors – first team for vault and floor exercise and second team for all-around and balance beam. The four All-America honors matches the highest number for a Gator freshman. King earned a spot on the All-SEC second team after taking fourth in the league championships' all-around. She claimed the SEC Freshman of the Week honor three times and won two all-around titles.
Senior Maranda Smith is the Gator Heart and Soul Award winner for the second consecutive year. Smith earned a spot on the All-America first team for the uneven bars, upping her career total to four All-America honors in the last two years. She shared the NCAA North Central Region uneven bars and floor exercise titles and earned a spot on the All-SEC second team after tying for second in the league championships' floor competition. Smith is second among the 2010 Gators with nine event titles. Earlier this month in the inaugural Florida Letterman Awards (FLA) night, she picked up the 2009 Comeback Athlete of the Year.
Amy Ferguson was named the Most Improved. As a sophomore, Ferguson upgraded her final two tumbling passes for her floor exercise routine. She set her collegiate-best floor exercise mark of 9.90 on Jan. 30 and matched that mark again versus Georgia on Feb. 19. She has been a part of Florida's floor exercise lineup for every meet of the 2009 and 2010 seasons.
Freshman Liz Green was chosen as the 2010 recipient of the "Charlie's Angel" award, given in memory of former Gator Gymnastics Gang president Charlie Eggleston. Green collected five event titles in 2010, including four wins on balance beam. She twice turned in a collegiate-best of 9.925 on beam, which took second in the NCAA North Central Regional. Green graduated early from high school and joined the Gator team for the spring semester. She competed on floor in every meet and was in all but one beam lineup.
The Scholar-Athlete award went to senior Rebekah Zaiser. She will receive a $7,500 scholarship as UF's female nominee for the McWhorter Scholar-Athlete Post-Graduate Scholarship, given by the SEC. At the FLA Awards night, Zaiser was named UF Athletics female Scholar-Athlete. The pre-med major owns a grade point average of 3.97 and will start medical school this fall. The CommuniGator Award went to senior Ashley Kerr. She has participated in more than 15 hours of Goodwill Gator activities this year and was named to the SEC Gymnastics Community Service team in March. Kerr was named UF Athletics female Character Award recipient at the FLA Awards earlier this month.
During the 2010 season, the Gators finished fifth in the NCAA Championships, marking the sixth top-five finish for the program since 2004. Florida won its second SEC team title since 2007 and claimed its sixth consecutive NCAA Regional team title in 2010. Seven Gators collected 11 All-America honors.
| 2010 University of Florida Gymnastics Team Awards | |
| Outstanding Gymnast | Ashan?e Dickerson |
| Gator Heart & Soul Award | Maranda Smith |
| Newcomers of the Year | Ashan?e Dickerson & Marissa King |
| Scholar Award | Rebekah Zaiser |
| Most Improved | Amy Ferguson |
| "Charlie's Angel" | Liz Green |
| "CommuniGator" | Ashley Kerr |
