June 8, 2006
DALLAS - Former Missouri gymnast Jodie Heinicka was named the 2006 Big 12 Conference Female Sportsperson of the Year, the league office announced on Thursday. Heinicka, who completed her athletic eligibility in 2006, was the first Missouri student-athlete to earn in the honor in the award's six year history. She was selected alongside Male Sportsperson of the Year Parker Dalton, a member of the Texas A&M baseball team.
The Big 12 annually recognizes its top male and female sportsperson. The Sportspersons of the Year Award was started prior to the 2000-01 academic year to honor student-athletes who displayed an extraordinary degree of sportsmanship and/or community service during the academic year. Heinicka and Dalton were selected by a media panel.
Heinicka, a native of Seminole, Fla., has spent her time in Columbia as an active participant in university and city activities. She was involved in the Can Food Drive for Central Missouri Food Bank, participated in the Dance-a-thon for children's diseases and visited the children's Cancer Patient Ward at the University Hospital. Heinicka organized a Habitat for Humanity project to help a local family in Columbia get their first home. At Christmas she helped organize an Adopt-A-Family project and wrapped Christmas presents for a number of local families. She also worked at the water station for the Domestic Violence Half Marathon Race, volunteered at the local Boone Hospital and visited Columbia grade schools to read and mentor children.
Every morning at 6 a.m. Heinicka helps a quadriplegic male with his morning routine of exercises, getting dressed and putting him in his wheelchair. The man can be seen at Tiger gymnastics meets cheering from the stands.
In addition to these activities, Heinicka represented Missouri on the Big 12 Student Athlete Advisory Committee and was elected to be the student athlete representative for the Intercollegiate Athletic Committee. She also served as vice president for SAAC and was chosen to complete a public service announcement television commercial.
In the athletic arena, Heinicka is tied for Mizzou's bar record with a 9.950, which she set at the Missouri Cat Classic as a sophomore in 2004. As a senior in 2006, she finished the season ranked as the fourth finest bars worker in the nation and held the South Central Region's top bars ranking 10-of-11 weeks during the season. Heinicka, who was a three-time Academic All-Big 12 first team selection, concluded her career with a second-place finish on bars at the NCAA Southeast Regional.