Aug. 4, 2009

DAVIS, Calif. - The National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches/Women (NACGC/W) honored eight UC Davis student-athletes as part of its Scholastic All-America awards program. Additionally, the Aggie women's gymnastics team ranked 14th overall in team grade-point average for the 2008-09 academic year.

Alphabetically, the UC Davis recipients are senior Andi Dolinsky, sophomore Ashley Lachman, freshman Betsy Lim, junior Kendall McCann, sophomore Marcy Miller, sophomore Stacey Nicolini, senior Christine Tao and freshman Erika Van Dyke. As a team, UC Davis compiled a GPA of 3.4447, just one-thousandth of a point behind 13th-ranked Missouri.

The two freshmen, Lim and Van Dyke, each finished with 4.0 GPAs during their first year at UC Davis.

Southeast Missouri State defended its team GPA title with a cumulative 3.91, helped by 14 student-athletes with 4.0 averages during the year. Previous champion Southern Utah was second at 3.68, just ahead of Michigan State at 3.65.

To earn selection to the individual Scholar-Athlete roll, gymnasts must appear on the official NCAA squad list on January 1 and post a cumulative GPA of 3.50 or better during that academic year.

The totality of accomplishments continues a string of academic awards for the Aggie women's gymastics program and head coach John Lavallee. UC Davis led the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in academic all-conference winners, then captured the school's Marya Welch Award for boasting the highest GPA among the Aggie women's teams.

The UC Davis women's gymnastics team opens its 2010 season on January 10 in a home quadrangular with Cal State Fullerton, San Jose State and Wisconsin-Whitewater.