Barnett SEC Scholar Athlete for gymnastics

Published 11:17 pm Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Nicole Barnett of Chatsworth, a junior at Auburn University, has been selected the Southeastern Conference Scholar Athlete of the Year in gymnastics.

The 5-foot-1 Barnett, who attended Dalton High School, is the first Auburn gymnast to win the honor, announced at the league’s gymnastic meet over the weekend in Birmingham.

“I’m very honored to receive the award,” Barnett said Wednesday. “I feel like an awful lot of hard work paid off for me.”

Barnett has maintained a 4.0 grade-point average throughout her three years at Auburn and is majoring in biomedical sciences.

“I’d like to be a dentist,” she said. “When I was 8 years old and did a project for school, I interviewed some dentists. I found it interesting and I always loved going to the dentist office.”

Barnett has competed in every meet for the Lady Tigers this season and ranks second on the team in average floor score.

“Nicole is an amazing person to be able to balance what she does between having a 4.0 in academics and balancing athletics,” Auburn coach Jeff Thompson said in a release on the school’s Web site. “She is in her sixth semester in the biomedical sciences honor program and is a solid contributor to us in the gym. I am excited she was chosen as SEC Scholar Athlete. It is a great honor for her and it is very well deserved.”

Barnett takes her academics seriously.

“And I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished,” she said. “I’ve worked hard to balance school and gym. I was surprised to get the award, but it was a real pleasure to receive it.”

Auburn posted a team score of 194.75 and finished fifth at the SEC meet held at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex. The score was the team’s fourth-highest ever at the league championships, which were won by Georgia for the 15th time in 26 years, and third in a row.

Auburn’s Julie Dwyer was named the SEC Gymnast of the Year.

Barnett posted a 9.775 in the floor exercise in the final event of the meet.

The SEC championships will be televised tonight at 6 p.m. on Fox Sports South. Auburn earned a trip to the NCAA regionals on April 8 with its fifth-place finish at the SEC meet.