Denelle Pedrick named MAC Gymnast of Year, Chippewas land three on All-MAC teams
Central Michigan gymnast Denelle Pedrick performs an exercise on the floor Jan. 6 at McGuirk Arena.
Denelle Pedrick became the first back-to-back Mid-American Conference Gymnast of the Year in Central Michigan history when the conference awards were announced Monday.
Pedrick, a senior from Wilcox, Saskatoon, Canada, was also named the conference's Senior Gymnast of the Year and earned a spot on the All-MAC First Team.
Sophomore Morgan Tong joined Pedrick on the first team and freshman Hannah DeMers was named to the conference's second team.
In terms of history, Pedrick is the sixth Chippewa to win the MAC Gymnast of the Year Award since it was first awarded in 1997. Pedrick is the third Chippewa — joining Selina Nickason (1998) and Halle Moraw (2015) — to win both the Gymnast of the Year and Senior Gymnast of the Year in one season.
Pedrick also found herself on the All-MAC team for the third-straight year after being named to the second team in 2018 and first team last season.
During the season, Pedrick was named MAC Gymnast of the Week three times. In all, she finished the 2020 campaign ranked 18th nationally and topped the MAC with a 39.355 average score in the all-around.
On the season, she posted the highest individual score in the conference on the vault, balance beam and floor exercise. She finished the year with the league's best average floor score.
Pedrick tied her career-best all-around score with a 39.525 in a dual against Southern Utah on Feb. 7. Her season-best score on the floor was a 9.950, which she posted against Western Michigan on Feb. 28, was also a career-best and seventh-best in CMU history.
In 2019, Pedrick was the conference's vault and all-around champion and qualified for the NCAA Regional for the third-consecutive year. She finishes her career as a two-time NCAA Championships qualifier.
Tong, after winning the MAC Freshman of the Year Award last season, delivered in a big way in 2020.
The Markham, Ontario, Canada native finished first on the balance beam on three occasions and led the conference with an average score of 9.875.
After posting a career-best 9.900 on the beam against Eastern Michigan on Jan. 22, Tong was named the MAC Specialist of the Week. Her score was the highest in the conference.
In her freshman season, DeMers collected nine first-place finishes, spread evenly between the bars, vault and all-around.
DeMers, a Canton native, tied for fourth on the bars on two occasions as she scored 9.950 and tied her teammate and fellow freshman Audriana Hammond for the best score in the conference.
On the vault, DeMers tied Pedrick for the top score in the conference and averaged 9.847, the best in the MAC.
Western Michigan was named the conference champion after the season was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Broncos posted a 5-1 record in the conference and their coach, Penny Jernigan, was named the conference's Coach of the Year.
