UNC student-athletes across three winter sports are being recognized for their athletic achievements this week.

In gymnastics, freshmen Lali Dekanoidze and Julia Knower each received honors from the East Atlantic Gymnastics League for their performances in UNC’s tri-meet win on Friday. Dekanoidze earned the Gymnast of the Week award for the second straight week and third time this season, while Knower earned the Rookie of the Week award.

In the tri-meet, Dekanoidze once again took the all-around title, matching her career-best with a 39.450 score. Her vault score of 9.90 also matched a career-best and was the top EAGL vault score of the weekend. Currently ranked as the No. 1 all-around gymnast in the EAGL and tied for No. 1 on vault, Dekanoidze has posted the two highest all-around scores in the league this season.

Knower came in clutch for Carolina, securing its victory with a career-high 9.90 score on floor exercise. She tied for the top floor score in the EAGL this season, and also set a new all-around career-high score at 39.325. The gymnastics team, ranked No. 25, will travel to Alabama this weekend for a tri-meet with the No. 9 Crimson Tide and No. 17 Western Michigan.

In diving, senior Anton Down-Jenkins and sophomore Aranza Vazquez swept ACC Men’s and Women’s Diver of the Week honors. Both Down-Jenkins and Vazquez should be used to the big stage; they each competed in the Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

This is the sixth time in Down-Jenkins’ career he has been named ACC Diver of the Week. Against Duke, he swept the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events for the sixth time in six meets this season. Vazquez competed in two meets over the weekend, and won three of her four events. Vazquez swept the springboard events against No. 2 Texas, defeating the No. 2 diver in the country in the process, and took the title in the 3-meter against Duke.

And in track and field, graduate student Jill Shippee earned Performer of the Week honors after a record-breaking showing for the Tar Heels. Competing in the weight throw at the Indiana Relays, Shippee shattered a 17-year-old school record with a 21.75-meter throw. The mark is the 10th-best throw in NCAA competition this season and Shippee’s personal-best. It breaks a record held by Carolina’s Laura Gerraughty, who competed in the 2004 Olympics.

Shippee now holds program records in two events, having already set the all-time UNC mark in the hammer throw.

 

Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Jeffrey A. Camarati

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