XBOX LIVE GYMNAST OF THE WEEK – Southern Utah’s Sheena Shaw has been named the Xbox Live Western Athletic Conference Gymnast of the Week for the week of March 20. This is the second WAC Gymnast of the Week honor for the Thunderbirds this season.

Shaw, a senior from Payson, Utah, finished first in the all-around in all three meets last week, which gives her a string of five straight all-around meet-championships. She was first in a pair of WAC meets, at Utah State and at home against CS Fullerton. The senior scored a 39.175 at Utah State, 39.075 at BYU and 39.150 versus Cal State Fullerton, all in a five-day span. She was among the top-three overall on every event at Utah State, including event champion on both vault and floor, with identical 9.850 marks. At BYU, she was among Southern Utah’s top three on every event. Against Cal State Fullerton, she was event champion on both bars (9.85) and floor (9.80), was second on vault (9.725) and third on beam (9.775). The results from last week gives her eight top-three event-finishes and four event-championships plus three all-around titles with the only exception coming at BYU where she was among the team’s top three on every event.

Other nominees included: Taylor Jacob of Boise State scored a 39.025 at the Oregon State Salbasgeon Invitational ... Marina Borisova of Sacramento State won her third-straight all-around title with a career-best 39.100 … Jessica Parenti of Utah State led the Aggies, scoring 9.825 on bars for third place, as the Aggies finished second against Minnesota.

SOUTHERN UTAH EARNS ACADEMIC NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP –Southern Utah, which posted a team grade-point-average of 3.70 or above for the fifth straight season, out-distanced second-place North Carolina 3.714-to-3.6719 and all 13 SUU gymnasts earned academic all-America honors. Southern Utah has won eight academic national championships in the past 12 years. The award is presented annually by the National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches (NACGC).

To earn individual academic all-America honors student-athletes must maintain a 3.50 or better GPA. SUU had four representatives above 3.90 this year. Leading the way for the Thunderbirds was freshman Kim Marquardt who compiled a perfect 4.0 GPA while majoring in athletic training. Junior Nicole Cummings finished the year with a 3.97, also in athletic training, while sophomore Leah Sakhitab, who advanced to the NCAA championships last year as an at-large competitor, finished with a 3.94 in biology. Sophomore Jess Langley also checked in above 3.90, with a 3.93 GPA in business management.

WAC CHAMPIONSHIP RETURNS – WAC Gymnastics is back! The 2006 WAC Gymnastics Championship will be the first since 1993. The WAC also had gymnastics championships from 1991-1993. There are two coaches who were a part of the WAC in 1993, Boise State’s Sam Sandmire and Southern Utah’s Scott Bauman. Sandmire has been the Broncos head coach for 19 seasons, while Bauman is now in his 13th as the leader of the Thunderbirds. Utah captured the WAC title in 1991 and 1992. The Utes were also the NCAA Champions in 1992.

Utah won the 1993 WAC Championship with a score of 197.600. Boise State and Southern Utah finished third and fourth, respectively. Boise State’s Julie Wagner tied for first for the vault title with a perfect 10.000. Southern Utah’s Kim Francis was tied for second on balance beam with a score of 9.800.

Boise State hosted the last WAC Championship and 13 years later the championship meet moves to Logan, Utah. Utah State will host the 2006 WAC Championship on March 25. The "new" WAC consists of Boise State, Cal State Fullerton, Sacramento State, San Jose State, Southern Utah and Utah State. The Broncos, Spartans and Aggies are full-time members of the league, while the Titan, Hornets and Thunderbirds are affiliate members.