University of Minnesota Athletics
Players Mentioned
Five Gopher Women Earn CSC Academic All-America Honors
7/16/2024 10:42:00 AM | Athletics, Women's Golf, Gymnastics, Women's Hockey, Rowing
Mya Hooten and Madeline Wethington made the first team
MINNEAPOLIS – Five Gophers have been named to the At-Large Division I Women's College Sports Communicators Academic All-America® teams, the organization announced on Tuesday.
Mya Hooten (gymnastics) and Madeline Wethington (women's hockey) were named CSC First Team Academic All-Americans, while Annie Moen (rowing) made the second team. Gianna Gerdes (gymnastics) and Isabella McCauley (women's golf) were third team representatives.
Overall, Minnesota has earned eight CSC Academic All-America honors on the women's side during 2023-24. Softball's Jess Oakland (second team) and Taylor Krapf (third team), along with swimming and diving's Viviana Del Angel (third team) were honored earlier this year.
The lone Golden Gopher gymnast to qualify for nationals as an individual this year, Hooten had a magical senior season in the Maroon and Gold, winning a career-high 20 event titles, including 10 on floor, seven on vault and three on bars. In 2024, she was an AAI Award Nominee and a WCGA First Team All-American on Floor and Vault. She won the Fayetteville Regional on Vault and tied for Big Ten individual titles on Vault, Bars and Floor. In her career, Hooten has been named a WCGA All-American seven times and an NCAA Championships All-American four times. She's a four-time All-Big Ten honoree, a six-time Big Ten Event Champion and an 11-time Big Ten Event Specialist of the Week. In the classroom, she was named Academic All-Big Ten for the fourth straight season and earned her first career CSC Academic All-District and All-America honors.
Wethington earned CSC Academic All-American and All-District distinctions to cap off her illustrious tenure as a Golden Gopher. The Edina, Minn. native played in 173 games throughout her career, tying a program record, before being selected by PWHL Ottawa in the 7th round of the 2024 PWHL Draft. The staple defender notched exactly 100 career points as a member of the Maroon and Gold, hitting the mark against #4 Clarkson in the 2024 NCAA Regional Tournament, her final collegiate game. Wethington is a three-time All-WCHA Third-Team selection, a two-time WCHA All-Tournament Team selection, and a former WCHA Rookie of the Year. She was also named assistant captain for her fifth and final season at Minnesota. Her success in the classroom clinched her multiple WCHA Scholar-Athlete and All-Academic Team distinctions throughout her career, as well as recognition as a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree.
Moen picked up Academic All-American distinction for the first time in her career after helping the Gophers to a fifth-place finish at the 2024 Big Ten Conference Championship, their highest team finish since 2015. On the 2V8+ crew for the final nine races of the season, she won three times, including duals over Kansas and K-State. A native of Vadnais Heights, Minn., she was given the B1G Sportsmanship Award as a junior in 2023, while she also landed on the CSC Academic All-District Team. Carrying a perfect 4.0 GPA for her entire Minnesota career, Moen has earned the CRCA Scholar Athlete Award three times and been named a B1G Distinguished Scholar three times.
Gianna Gerdes, a Delaware, Ohio native, earned her first CSC Academic All-America and All-District nods in 2023-24. She also earned her second straight First Team All-Big Ten honor in the gym. Gerdes held 11 event titles this season, including six in the all-around. Her 39.452 all-around average put her at No. 4 in the Big Ten and No. 23 nationally. She earned a career-high 39.575 in the all-around on March 1 at Boise State, topping her previous career-best of 39.525. She also set career-highs this year in the balance beam (Senior Day, March 17) and Vault (Michigan, Feb. 10). The AAI Award nominee was a four-time Academic All-Big Ten selection and a two-time Big Ten All-Championships Team honoree. She's also a two-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar. Gerdes earned the Big Ten Medal of Honor in 2024 and was a WCGA Scholastic All-American in 2023.
McCauley is just the second Gopher women's golfer to be named an Academic All-American, following Kate Hughes who earned the honor in 1989. The Inver Grove Heights, Minn., native had a stellar sophomore season for the Maroon and Gold, reaching the NCAA National Championship for a second-straight season and was crowned Big Ten Tri-Champion. She earned three top-10 and five top-20 finishes in the 2023-24 season and broke both the season and career scoring record upon the completion of her sophomore campaign. She averaged a team-low 72.39 average, breaking her freshman season scoring record and became the lone Gopher to be named an All-American since 1989. McCauley has been named to the WGCA All-American Scholar team twice in her two-year career and earned Big Ten Distinguished Scholar status this season.