MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Senior Zaakira Muhammad earned the West Virginia University gymnastics team's Linda Burdette-Good Award as the team's Most Valuable Gymnast for the third straight year at the program's 2018 season banquet on April 28, at Touchdown Terrace at Milan Puskar Stadium.
 
A native of Pennsauken, New Jersey, Muhammad is the second Mountaineer in program history to earn three straight Team MVP honors and the first since Lisa Neutze earned the award four straight years (1978-1981).
 
Additionally, Muhammad also earned the Joseph Medrick Award as the team's top all-around gymnast for the second straight year.
 
Muhammad competed in 12 meets this season, eight in the all-around, and finished with a team-best 409.4 points. She leaves the program ranked No. 16 with 1,552.8125 career points. This year, Muhammad set or matched career highs on vault (9.9), uneven bars (9.9), balance beam (9.925) and the all-around (39.575). The all-around mark, earned in a win at Towson on March 18, was the best individual score earned by a WVU gymnast since 2004 and ranks No. 6 in program history. Muhammad was one of three gymnasts to not drop a vault score all season and finished in third place at the 2018 NCAA University Park Regional Championships with a career-high matching 9.9. She scored below 9.8 on vault just twice this year and finished second on the team with a 9.842 season average.
 
Muhammad finishes her career with 20 event wins and finished second on the team this year with five victories. She paced WVU in 2018 with 18 podium finishes and tallied 75 career podium finishes. An Academic All-Big 12 Second Team honoree, Muhammad ranks No. 10 in program history with 16 career scores of 9.9 or better and No. 9 with six career vault scores of 9.9 or better.
 
A pair of Mountaineers received the Sally Medrick Award as the team's most improved gymnast, as junior Jaquie Tun earned the honor for the second straight year and shared the recognition with freshman Michelle Waldron.
 
Tun, a native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, competed on vault and bars in all 13 meets and also earned time on beam and floor. She made her first career all-around appearance at George Washington on March 11 and placed fourth with a 39.175 score. Included in her showing was a 9.875, second place showing on beam; the lineup appearance was the first of her career.
 
Tun finished fifth on the team with 311.9 points and also ranks No. 5 on the team with 582.725 career points. She earned five podium finishes and set or matched career highs on all five events: vault (9.85), bars (9.875), beam (9.875), floor (9.85) and all-around (39.175). The Academic All-Big 12 First Team honoree was one of two gymnasts to not drop a score on bars this season.
 
Waldron, a native of Sagamore Beach, Massachusetts, competed on vault in four meets this season and earned a career-high 9.7 three times.  
 
Senior Jordan Gillette earned the John Quackenbush Award for Mountaineer Spirit. Presented annually to the gymnast who displays the most perseverance and enthusiasm for the sport of gymnastics, the award is named in honor of the late John Quackenbush, the father of WVU All-American Kristin Quackenbush and a friend of the Mountaineer gymnastics family.
 
A native of Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania, Gillette competed on bars, beam and floor in all 13 meets this season. The Academic All-Big 12 First Team honoree finished third on the team with 379.275 points and also ranks No. 3 on the team with 1,095.25 career points.
 
Gillette set or matched career highs on bars (9.85) and floor (9.875) this year and earned four podium finishes, including a victory on floor at UC Davis on Jan. 26 with a career-best 9.875 mark.
 
All but the Joseph Medrick Award were voted on by the student-athletes.
 
Six Mountaineers were recognized last night for career point milestones. Muhammad (1,552.8125) passed the 1,5000-point threshold, while seniors Robyn Bernard (1,017.275) and Gillette (1,095.25), as well as junior Kirah Koshinski (1,109.4) passed the 1,000-career point mark. Tun (582.725) and sophomore Abby Kaufman (504.55) surpassed 500 career points this year.
 
The Mountaineers concluded the 2018 season at 13-13. Included in the team's season highlights were three road scores of 196.0 or better, a program first.