@MizzouGym's Morgan Porter Named SEC Freshman of the Year
3/24/2016 8:47:00 AM | Gymnastics
Porter becomes the first Tiger to earn SEC Freshman of the Year honors
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou gymnastics freshman Morgan Porter (Overland, Mo.) was named the 2016 Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year in a vote by the league coaches, the conference announced on Thursday (March 24). Porter became the first Tiger in program history to earn SEC Freshman of the Year honors.
Porter is the fifth Tiger to claim conference freshman or newcomer of the year honors, joining Alisha Robinson (2002), Adrianne Perry (2005), Sarah Shire (2008) and Rachel Updike (2012), who all earned the award from the Big 12 Conference.
Additionally, Porter and freshman Britney Ward (Ozark, Mo.) claimed spots on the All-Freshman Team and Ward and sophomore Becca Schugel (Eagan, Minn.) earned places on the All-SEC Team. The All-SEC Team is comprised of student-athletes with the top two scores (including ties) on each event and in the all-around in the first and second sessions of the SEC Championship. The All-Freshman Team is composed of freshman student-athlete with the top score (including ties) in each session of the Championship, as well as the top two freshman all-around finishers from each session.
Competing in the all-around in 10 of 12 meets, Porter has contributed 46 of a possible 48 routines during her freshman campaign. She ranks 20th nationally in the all-around with an RQS of 39.355 and won a team-best 13 titles during the season. Porter scored a 39.675 in the all-around in a meet against Arkansas, a score that ranks tied for seventh nationally over the course of the season and tied for second in Mizzou history and is also tops among the SEC freshmen this year.
Porter owns three of the top four freshman all-around scores in Mizzou program history and tallied a team-high 35 scores of 9.8 or higher and is tied for the team lead with seven scores of 9.9 or above. Over the season, she scored a 9.950 on beam to tie the fourth-best Mizzou score on the event in program history, recorded a 9.950 on floor three times, scores that are tied for fifth all-time at Mizzou, and tied the fifth-best bars score (9.925) in Tiger history.
Mizzou heads to NCAA Regional competition on Saturday, April 2 at 4 p.m. in Minneapolis, Minn.
2016 SEC Gymnastics Awards
Gymnast of the Year: Caitlin Atkinson, Auburn
Event Specialist of the Year: Ashleigh Gnat, LSU
Freshman of the Year: Morgan Porter, Missouri
Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Lauren Beers, Alabama
Co-Coaches of the Year: Mark Cook, Arkansas, and Jenny Rowland, Florida
