Dec. 22, 2006

DAVIS, Calif. - Teri Lavallee, a three-time All-American and Alaska Anchorage Hall of Fame inductee, has been appointed as an assistant coach for the UC Davis women's gymnastics program. She will work primarily with the Aggie balance beam and floor exercise squads.

This is Lavallee's second collegiate coaching position, having first served as an assistant at Springfield College (Mass.) as a teaching fellow from 1990 to 1992. In her final season, she earned U.S. Gymnastics Federation Division II Assistant Coach of the Year honors. Lavallee later coached for more than 11 years at the Sterling Academy of Gymnastics in Sterling, Mass.

As a collegiate athlete, Lavallee (then Teri Frankie) was a member of Alaska Anchorage's inaugural women's gymnastics team. She earned USGF All-America honors in 1985, 1986 and 1990 and became the school's first two-time Athlete of the Year winner. Lavallee was selected as a member of the charter induction class of the Seawolf Hall of Fame in 2001.

Lavallee graduated from UAA with a degree in health science in 1990, then earned her master of education from Springfield in 1992. Her emphasis was on sports injury prevention and management, which led her to an M.S. in physical therapy from Massachusetts-Lowell in 1995. Lavallee served as a PT, clinical supervisor and clinical director at South County Physical Therapy for eight years while continuing her coaching duties at Sterling. She later served two years at the Orthopedic Group in Hamden, Conn.

UC Davis, which finished second at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and the USAG Collegiate Nationals in 2006, opens the upcoming season at home against San Jose State on January 12.