May 14, 2007 Courtney Kupets, a University of Georgia sophomore and winner of both a Silver and Bronze Medal at the 2004 Olympics, has been chosen as the nation’s top collegiate female gymnast. The honor was based on the results of national balloting among 1,000 NCAA member schools as part of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards program, now in its 31st year.
Kupets’ victory will earn her the 2007 Honda Sports Award, given annually to the top women athletes in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports, along with automatic nomination for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year. She was voted over three other nominees:
Janet Anson, a senior at Iowa State University, Emily Parsons, a junior at the University of Nebraska, and Tasha Schwikert, a junior at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). The nominees were selected by the United States Elite Coaches Association.
“Having been nominated last year as a freshman was very cool,” said Kupets. “Being nominated again and then winning the Honda Sports Award is kind of surreal. We all work so hard and to get the recognition for our efforts, first with the NCAA national title and then on an individual level with this award is … WOW! It makes it feel like hard work really does pay off and there are people out there that really appreciate it.”
At the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Kupets won a Silver Medal with her fellow U.S. team members in the team all-around competition, as well as an individual Bronze Medal in the uneven bar competition. A 5’ 3” sophomore, she was named the 2007 NCAA All-Around Champion at this year’s NCAA National Championships in Salt Lake City. Her performances at the meet helped lead the UGA Gym Dogs to their third straight national title. Additionally, Kupets was named the NCAA Champion in both the all-around and vault and tied for second place on uneven bars and floor. She was also named third place on beam, earning First-Team All-America honors in all five categories.
Kupets has claimed a total of five individual titles in only two seasons as well as back-to-back individual NCAA All-Around titles, an achievement that has not been matched since former Honda Award Winner Kim Arnold won back-to-back titles in 1997 and ‘98. Kupets recorded the first “perfect 10.0” of her career on the uneven bars in Georgia’s 2007 victory over Alabama, becoming the first member of her team to accomplish that feat since 2002.
In addition to her achievements in sports, Kupets is an academic standout. She was named to the Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll with a GPA of .383.
An Athens, GA native, Kupets is currently a Furnishings and Interiors major and expects to graduate from the University of Georgia in 2009.
Kupets is the sixth winner of the Honda Sports Award in gymnastics from the University of Georgia, joining Karin Lichey (1999), Hope Spivey (1991), Lucy Wener (1989) and two-time winner Kim Arnold (1997 & ’98). She is also the second athlete from the University of Georgia to win the Honda Sports Award this year, joining senior, Kara Lynn Joyce who won for swimming earlier this year.
Previously announced Honda Sports Award recipients include the University of Tennessee’s Candace Parker for basketball; the University of Georgia’s Kara Lynn Joyce for swimming; the University of Nebraska’s Sarah Pavan for volleyball; the University of North Carolina’s Heather O’Reilly for soccer; the University of Maryland’s Paula Infante for field hockey and Texas Tech’s Sally Kipyego for cross-country. Honda Sports Award winners in golf, lacrosse, softball, tennis, and track & field will be announced in the coming months. The Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year will be determined by separate balloting involving all NCAA-member institutions and the winner will receive the Honda-Broderick Cup at Columbia University in New York on June 25th 2007.
American Honda Motor Co., Inc. sponsors the Collegiate Women Sports Awards Program.
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Awards Contact(s): Adam Weissman/Harvey Bolgla
Dobbin/Bolgla Associates, 156 Fifth Avenue, Suite 523, New York, NY 10010
Phone: (212) 388-1400 / Fax: (212) 388-1490
University of Georgia Contact: Tyler Sabo
University of Georgia, Sports Information Director, PO Box 1472 Butts-Mehre Building, Athens, GA 30603-1472
Phone: (706) 542-1621
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