Heidi Moneymaker Nominated For Honda Award
April 18, 2000 | Gymnastics
April 18, 2000
UCLA senior Heidi Moneymaker (Santa Rosa, CA) was selected as one of four nominees for the 1999-2000 Honda Award for gymnastics. Other nominees are Heather Brink of Nebraska, Sarah Cain of Michigan and Chrissy Van Fleet of Florida.
This past weekend, UCLA team co-captain Moneymaker led UCLA to its second NCAA title in four years. Moneymaker placed fourth in the all-around with a total of 39.55 and was also fourth on vault (9.8375 average), fifth on floor (9.875) and 10th on the uneven bars (9.325). She earned first-team All-America honors on those three events and the all-around.
Also in 2000, Moneymaker was selected the Region 1 Gymnast of the Year for the second consecutive year as well as the Pac-10 Gymnast of the Year. She won the Pac-10 and Region 1 floor exercise title and also earned All-Pac-10 honors on beam and floor. She also set new school records in the all-around (39.775) and vault (10.0) and became the first gymnast in UCLA history to record two perfect 10s on the same apparatus (Feb. 11 and Mar. 5). Moneymaker's achievements on vault are even more impressive considering that she competed the most difficult vault in collegiate gymnastics (handspring front layout with a half-twist). Moneymaker ended the regular season ranked in the Top 10 nationally on all four events and in the Top 15 nationally in the all-around.
In her career, Moneymaker has won an NCAA title in each of her four years at UCLA (1997 and 2000 team, 1998 bars, 1999 vault) and has earned a total of 12 All-America awards, three Regional individual titles, three Pac-10 individual titles and six All-Pac-10 honors.
This past academic quarter (January-March), Moneymaker was named to the Director's Honor Roll, which recognizes student-athletes who have achieved a 3.0 or higher grade point average. She helped her team record a combined team GPA of 3.5.
The Honda Award, which is awarded June 12 in Orlando, FL, annually recognizes the top female collegiate athlete in each of 11 sports. The Honda Award winners are then candidates for the Honda-Broderick Cup, which recognizes the outstanding Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year.
UCLA has had two Honda Award recipients for gymnastics - Sharon Shapiro in 1980-81 and Jill Andrews in 1989-90.
