BATON ROUGE – Six LSU gymnasts were named to the 2023 Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA) Scholastic All-American Team, announced by the association on Thursday morning.
Kiya Johnson, Alyona Shchennikova, Kamryn Ryan, Elena Arenas, Olivia Dunne and Ashley Cowan all earned WCGA Academic honors in 2023.
This year’s awards makes Ryan a four-time academic All-America honoree, earning the award every year she competed for the Tigers. The Luling, Louisiana native graduated from LSU in May with her bachelor’s degree in kinesiology.
Johnson and Dunne garnered honors for the third year in a row, while Shchennikova claimed her second Scholastic All-America honors from the organization.
This year’s awards marked the first for Arenas and Cowan in their career for their efforts in the classroom. Arenas enters her senior season while Cowan enters her second year with the Tigers.
Cowan is one of 228 student-athletes who recorded a 4.0 cumulative GPA in 2023.
The 2023 honors marks the 32nd year in a row that a gymnast has been named to the Scholastic All-America Team for the Tigers. This year’s six recipients moves the total to 189 gymnasts in program history who have been awarded the academic honor.
In order to receive Scholastic All-America honors, a gymnast must have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or a 3.5 or higher for the 2023-23 year.
2023 WCGA Scholastic All-America Team – LSU
Elena Arenas – Sport Administration
Ashley Cowan – Kinesiology
Olivia Dunne – Interdisciplinary Studies
Kiya Johnson – Liberal Arts
Kamryn Ryan – Kinesiology
Alyona Shchennikova – Interdisciplinary Studies