Gymnastics Celebrates National Title With End of the Year Banquet
5/25/2002 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
A week to the day that the 2002 NCAA Gymnastics Championships concluded with yet another Alabama national championship, the Crimson Tide, athletes, coaches, staff and fans gathered to celebrate the season.
The Medalist Club, the booster organization for Alabama gymnastics, hosted the annual affair at the Bryant Conference Center Saturday night. The 2002 NCAA Champion gymnastics team was there in full force and more than 300 fans.
Senior Andre? Pickens and junior Kristin Sterner were named captains of the 2002 squad by a vote of their teammates.
Pickens had a busy and accolade laden senior year. In addition to helping lead Alabama to its fourth NCAA Championship and earning the NCAA Uneven Bars title last Saturday, the Houston, Texas native earned five All-American honors this season, upping her career total to 14 honors in three seasons (Pickens did not compete in the 2001 NCAA Championships due to a torn Achilles Tendon in her left ankle). She is the first collegiate gymnast to amass five All-American honors in two different seasons during her career. She is also the first gymnast to earn four individual conference titles in one season. Pickens was named Southeastern Conference and NCAA Regional Gymnast of the Year. She is a finalist for the prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and earned the SEC Community Service Postgraduate Scholarship. She is the president of Alabama’s Student Athlete Advisory Board.
Sterner earned two All-American honors this season, upping her career total to nine. The Ionia, Michigan native started out the season as Alabama’s top all-arounder, but an ankle injury in February sidelined her into March. She returned to the all-around for the NCAA Championships and helped lead the Tide to the title.
Sterner was also given the Lewis Each Courage award. The Each award is given to the member of the Alabama gymnastics program that best displays the ideals of living every moment to the fullest and doing your absolute best in the face of adversity set forth by the late Lewis Each, an Alabama sportswriter who died of complications related to cystic fibrosis in October of 1998. His parents, Jean and Winston Each were on hand to help present the award that bears their sons name.
Trainer Monica Decker was presented the David Dutton Memorial Award. The award is given only during years when the coaching staff deems it appropriate and is awarded to an individual who has gone above and beyond the call of duty for the Alabama gymnastics program.
Sophomore Jeana Rice was also recognized for her All-American season. The Orlando, Fla. native earned three All-American honors, including the all-around, giving her eight career honors. Rice also won the all-around at the NCAA Southeast Central Regional Championships.
Freshman Alexis Brion competed in two events in her first national championship outing, the vault and the floor exercise, and she earned All-American honors in both of them.
Senior Natalie Barrington again proved she is one of collegiate gymnastics premiere uneven bars performers, garnering her third consecutive All-American nod on that event, while freshman Shannon Hrozek, just starting her career, earned All-American honors on the balance beam.
Also during the banquet, it was announced that senior Alexa Martinez had earned the Medalist Club Postgraduate Scholarship given to an individual that had made an outstanding contribution to the Alabama Gymnastics Program. Martinez, a Scholastic All-American, plans to pursue a Master’s degree in advertising after graduation.
In other banquet business, outgoing Medalist Club president Chuck Karr passed the reigns of the group over to incoming president Lori Wesson.
