Wojcik Named Big Ten Freshman of the Year
3/22/2019 8:59:00 PM | Women's Gymnastics
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Natalie Wojcik of the University of Michigan women's gymnastics team was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year at the Big Ten Championship banquet on Friday night (March 22).
Wojcik becomes the 13th Wolverine to earn the honor, joining teammate Olivia Karas who won it in 2016. The 13 Big Ten Freshman of the Year recipients are the most in the conference, with Iowa, Minnesota and Penn State tied for second with each having three.
This season, Wojcik has been one of the top gymnasts in the nation. She is one of only four gymnasts in the country to score a 9.950 on each of the four events throughout the season and ranks sixth in the NCAA in the all-around, third on vault, seventh on balance beam, is tied for 17th on uneven bars and T-38th on floor exercise.
Wojcik has a perfect 10 on vault and has been named Big Ten Gymnast of the Week five times and Big Ten Freshman of the Week eight times. She has scored 39.600 or better in the all-around six times to move into a tie for fourth place on Michigan's career list.
Other Michigan Freshman of the Year award winners include Wendy Wilkinson (1991), Beth Wymer (1992), Andrea McDonald (1994), Heather Kabnick (1995), Sarah Cain (1997), Janessa Grieco (2000), Jenny Deiley (2003), Katie Lieberman (2005), Tatjana Thuener-Rego (2006), Nicole Artz (2014), Brianna Brown (2015) and Karas (2016).
The Big Ten Conference also announced each school's Big Ten Sportsmanship Award recipients on Friday with senior Emma McLean earning the Michigan honor for the second time (2017). She becomes just the second U-M student-athlete to win the award twice, joining Nellie Kippley (2007-08).
Michigan will attempt to win its sixth consecutive Big Ten Championship on Saturday (March 23) when the Wolverines compete in the evening session at 5 p.m. at Rec Hall in State College, Pennsylvania.
Players Mentioned
