Jan. 12, 2010

Sophomore Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs (Toronto, ON/Northview Heights Secondary) of the UCLA gymnastics team was selected as the UCLA/Muscle Milk Student-Athlete of the Week for Jan. 4-10.

In the fifth-ranked Bruins' season-opening win over second-ranked Utah, Hopfner-Hibbs won the all-around and floor and tied for first on beam to lead UCLA to only its third win ever over Utah in the regular season. She started the competition with a 9.8 on vault, good for fifth place, then earned a 9.775 on bars to tie for seventh. Hopfner-Hibbs, who is also this week's Pac-10 Gymnast of the Week, closed strong on beam and floor, earning the meet's highest scores on those events with a 9.875 and 9.9, respectively. She had one of five UCLA scores of 9.9 or higher and three of the team's 15 scores of 9.8 or higher.

This is Hopfner-Hibbs' first UCLA/Muscle Milk Student-Athlete of the Week honor of the season and of her career.

Also nominated: Brittany Beauchan, W. Swimming; Jasmine Dixon, W. Basketball; Michael Roll, M. Basketball.