UCLA Gymnast Samantha Peszek Nominated for Honda Sports Award
April 21, 2015 | Gymnastics
Peszek capped an outstanding gymnastics career with the NCAA all-around and balance beam titles at last weekend's NCAA Championships. The beam title was the second of her career, as she previously won as a freshman in 2011. The 2008 Olympic silver medalist and 2007 World Championships gold medalist amassed 17 All-America honors over her collegiate career, including seven this season. She also won the 2015 NCAA Regional all-around, beam and floor titles and repeated as the Pac-12 beam champion along with winning the floor exercise title. Peszek earned three Pac-12 weekly honors in 2015 and 12 over her career. She is also a four-time NACGC/W Scholastic All-American and three-time Pac-12 All-Academic selection.
In addition to Peszek's gymnastics accomplishments, she has been a model student-athlete and outstanding ambassador not only for her team and her sport but for the university and the Pac-12 Conference. With a 3.71 GPA, Peszek is set to graduate cum laude this spring with a degree in Communication Studies, one of the most competitive majors on the UCLA campus. Peszek has won numerous academic awards throughout her career, being named to the UCLA All-Academic Team three times and winning the Bruin Leadership Award in 2014. She has represented UCLA at the Pac-12 SAAC Conference and at the NCAA Leadership Development Program and was a member of the Bruin Athletic Council's executive board. In addition, she has participated in many community service ventures, including UCLA's It's On Us campaign, Special Olympics, PrimeTime Games and Dribble for the Cure. She has also done volunteer work for the Jessie Rees Foundation (NEGU), which helps children with cancer.
The other nominees for the Honda Sports Award for gymnastics are Utah's Georgia Dabritz, Florida's Kytra Hunter and Minnesota's Lindsay Mable. UCLA has had five Honda Award winners, most recently Kristen Maloney in 2005.
The Honda Sports Award signifies “the best of the best in collegiate athletics”. The winner of the sport award becomes a finalist for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and the prestigious 2015 Honda Cup, which will be awarded on June 29 in a live televised broadcast from Los Angeles.
The nominees were chosen by a panel of experts and coaches representing the National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches/Women (NACGCW). The Honda Sports award winner for gymnastics will be announced next week after voting by administrators from over 1,000 NCAA member schools. Each NCAA member institution has a vote.
Three student-athletes from the sport of gymnastics have gone on to win the prestigious Honda Cup, including last year's winner for the Class of 2014, Kim Jacob (University of Alabama). She was joined previously by Courtney Kupets (University of Georgia) in 2009 and Missy Marlowe (University of Utah) in 1992.
THE Collegiate Women Sports Awards has honored the nation's top NCAA women athletes for 39 years, recognizing superior athletic skills, leadership, academic excellence and eagerness to participate in community service. Since commencing its sponsorship in 1986, Honda has provided more than $3.0 million in institutional grants to the universities of the award winners and nominees to support women's athletics programs at the institutions.
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