BATON ROUGE — In recognition of an outstanding 2006 season, the Tiger gymnastics team held its annual awards banquet Friday night at the Faculty Club on the LSU campus.
LSU Athletics Director Skip Bertman and head coach D-D Breaux and staff were on hand to honor the team for their numerous accomplishments both on the floor of competition and in the classroom during the 2006 season.
Each team member was recognized for their individual contributions with letter awards. Freshmen were presented with a varsity letter jacket, sophomores received a letter blanket, juniors were given a letter watch and seniors April Burkholder, Kelly Lea and Terin Martinjak were awarded a letter plaque for their stellar contributions over the past four seasons.
Several individuals were also acknowledged for their superior athletic endeavors throughout the year. April Burkholder was honored for winning the 2006 NCAA beam title and earning All-America honors on the vault, bars, beam, floor and in the all-around. Terin Martinjak (beam, floor), Kelly Lea (bars), Kelly Phelan (floor) and Lisa Rennie (bars) were also recognized for earning All-America accolades at the NCAA Championships.
In addition, Burkholder was acknowledged for earning first-team All-SEC accolades. Phelan (vault) and Rennie (bars) were honored with medallions from the conference for finishing among the top five on an individual event at the SEC meet.
The coaching staff recognized two athletes with the season’s Most Improved Award and the DeeDee Fulmer Gilbert Award.
Lea was named the team’s Most Improved athlete. Lea was a mainstay in the Tigers’ bars and floor lineups as a senior and capped her career by earning All-America honors on the bars at the NCAA Championships.
Terin Martinjak was the team’s recipient of the DeeDee Fulmer Gilbert Award, an honor bestowed upon the individual that best exemplifies the true meaning of a student-athlete, one who excels not only in competition, but also in the classroom. One of the Tigers’ most consistent and dependable competitors on the vault, beam and floor, Martinjak earned All-America honors on both the beam and floor as a senior, while maintaining a 3.421 GPA in kinesiology.
In addition, team members were honored for their academic achievements as well as their work in the community.
Lea, Phelan, Amanda Morales, Lauren Klein and Kristi Esposito were recognized as Academic All-Americans, while seven different individuals were acknowledged for earning a place on the SEC’s Academic Honor Roll.
Lastly, the team was recognized as a whole with the CHAMPS Community Service Award. The award, given annually, goes to the LSU team that spends the most time giving back to the people of the Baton Rouge area.
Lea was then acknowledged as a member of the SEC Good Works Team for her superior individual community service efforts.