Brittani McCullough Selected As Honda Award Nominee
April 17, 2011 | Gymnastics
April 17, 2011
UCLA senior Brittani McCullough (Corona, CA) has been selected as one of four nominees for the Honda Award, honoring the nation's top gymnast.
McCullough has been a top performer for the Bruins since her freshman season, being named the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year in 2008 and winning the 2010 NCAA floor exercise title, while leading the Bruins to their sixth NCAA title. This season, she won the floor exercise title at the NCAA Regional Championships and earned first-team All-America honors on vault and floor while leading the Bruins to a close runner-up finish at the NCAA Championships. McCullough will be defending her NCAA floor title from a year ago at this afternoon's NCAA Event Finals and will also compete on vault. She is just the third gymnast in school history to compete on floor finals three years in a row, joining 2003 Honda Award winner Onnie Willis and three-time NCAA floor champion Kim Hamilton.
McCullough has overcome several injuries and obstacles throughout her career, suffering two season-ending injuries in 2007 and 2008 and returning each time to be a vital contributor to the Bruins' success. She was one of UCLA's most consistent competitors throughout her four years, hitting 94% of her routines without a fall and averaging 9.8 or better on vault, bars and floor in her career. She posted career-highs of 9.95 on vault and beam, 9.925 on bars and 9.9375 on floor.
McCullough finishes her career with four first-team All-America honors - three on floor and one on vault. She was also named to the 2011 Pac-10 All-Academic team, maintaining over a 3.0 cumulative GPA in nursing, one of the most demanding majors at UCLA. McCullough is the only student-athlete in the UCLA nursing program.
Also nominated for the Honda Award for gymnastics are Kylee Botterman of Michigan, Kayla Hoffman of Alabama and Sharaya Musser of Penn State. The winner after nationwide balloting will become a candidate for The Honda-Broderick Cup awarded annually to The Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year.
UCLA has had five Honda Award recipients for gymnastics - Kristen Maloney in 2004-05, Onnie Willis in 2002-03, Mohini Bhardwaj in 2000-01, Jill Andrews in 1989-90 and Sharon Shapiro in 1980-81 - and 26 Honda Award winners overall.
Players Mentioned
