Flippin’ Birds Earn 12th Academic National Championship

Published: August 15, 2012 | Read Time: 1 minutes

Southern Utah University Gymnastics has earned its 12th academic national championship after leading the nation with a team GPA of 3.843 during the 2011-12 season. In addition, a total of 12 gymnasts earned Academic All-American citations from the National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches/Women (NACGC/W) for carrying a year-long cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher last season.

"We try to push it as much as we can both inside and outside of the gym," head coach Scott Bauman said. "We have been strict in how we recruit, and working hard in the classroom has really become a part of the culture at SUU with our upperclassmen helping to drive our level of excellence."

The Flippin' Birds finished ahead of its academic rival, Southeast Missouri State, which finished the year with a 3.736. Southeast Missouri was followed by University of Wisconsin–La Crosse (3.711), University of Utah (3.664) and Brown University (3.641) to round out the top five.

Individual honorees were led by Caitlin Kennedy and Lauren Jeffrey’s matching 4.0 GPAs; an additional four SUU gymnasts were just behind with GPAs in the 3.9 range. That group includes Brittney Jensen (3.97), Anna Schumacher (3.93), Brooke Cersosimo (3.92) and Rochelle Bernier (3.91).

Remaining academic honorees for SUU include Rebecca Moore (3.87), Stacey Sorensen (3.83), Jamie Armijo (3.74), Michaela Chernoch (3.71), Ana Jaworski (3.69) and Alyssa Click (3.56).

Southern Utah will open its 2013 season on January 6 at UCLA and host its home opener on February 1 against Utah State.

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