Gardiner Earns Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete Award

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State senior gymnast Madeline Gardiner was named as the Pac-12 Women's Gymnastics Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the conference office announced Thursday ahead of the Pac-12 Women's Gymnastics Championships. The award, which is presented in each of the 23 sports the Conference sponsors, was established to honor collegiate student-athletes that are standouts both academically and in their discipline.

Gardiner is an exercise and sport science major with an option in pre-therapy and allied health. She is a two-time Pac-12 All-Academic First Team member and a three-time scholastic All-American by the National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches/Women. During the summer of 2016, Gardiner participated in Beavers Without Borders, a mission trip to the Dominican Republic, where she helped repair and fix up a children's home and planted crops for the community. In addition, Gardiner has been involved with OSU's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, is her team's community service coordinator and also serves as a study facilitator and tutor to other student-athletes.

The Cambridge, Ontario native has hit 168 out of 171 (98.2 percent) routines in her career and all 36 this season entering Saturday's Pac-12 Championships. Gardiner is a four-time All-American and tied for third on the beam at NCAA Championships as a freshman and was the sole third-place finisher on the same event as a sophomore in 2015. She is a three-time all-conference selection and in 2016 tied as the Pac-12 co-champion on the balance beam.

She is the second OSU gymnast to receive the award since it's inception in 2007-08. Stephanie McGregor, OSU's other winner, received the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete Award in 2013.

In order to be eligible for the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, student-athletes, must be seniors (in athletics eligibility) on track to receive a degree, have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher, participate in at least 50% of the scheduled contests in the sport, and have a minimum of one year in residence at the institution. Each Pac-12 institution may nominate one individual per sport, and the winner is selected by a committee of Pac-12 staff members at the conclusion of each sport's regular season. The athletic accomplishments of the the nominees are a consideration in voting for the award.

Gardiner is the second Oregon State student-athlete this academic year to receive the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete Award. Beaver women's basketball player, Sydney Wiese, received her sport's honor earlier this month.

The Beavers compete this Saturday in the second session of the Pac-12 Championships beginning at 6 p.m. The meet will air live on Pac-12 Network.

Other nominees included: Krysten Howard, ARIZ; Corinne Belkoff, ASU; Zoe Draghi, CAL; Rachel Daum, STAN; Mikaela Gerber, UCLA; Baely Rowe, Utah; Kaitlyn Duranczyk, WASH.

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