MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Senior Jaquie Tun earned the West Virginia University gymnastics team's Linda Burdette-Good Award as the team's Most Valuable Gymnast at the program's 2019 season banquet, held Saturday, April 27, inside Hartley Club at Milan Puskar Stadium.
 
A native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Tun was a three-event specialist for the first 11 meets of the season before competing in the all-around in the last three meets of her career. She finished second on the team with 441.25 points and graduates with 1,023.975 career points.
 
Tun set or matched career highs on all four events this year: 9.9 on vault, 9.875 on uneven bars, 9.9 on balance beam and 9.925 on floor exercise. The bars and beam marks were the highest scores earned by a WVU gymnast on the events in 2019. Additionally, Tun also scored a career-best 39.425 in the all-around, also the top mark earned by a Mountaineer this season. She paced the team with a 9.8 season average on uneven bars and ranked No. 2 on the team, No. 45 nationally, with a 9.868 average on floor.
 
She finished second on the team with 17 podium finishes, including eight event wins, the first of her career.
 
A three-time NACGC/W Scholastic All-American, Tun, a graphic design major, also is a two-time Academic All-Big 12 First Team honoree.
 
Junior Abby Kaufman earned the Joseph Medrick Award as the team's top all-around gymnast. A native of York, Pennsylvania, Kaufman competed in the all-around in all 14 meets and paced the Mountaineers with 544.925 points. She averaged 38.925 in the all-around and also finished second on the team with a 9.757 average on vault.
 
Kaufman earned 14 podium finishes this season, the third-best mark on the team, and two event wins, her first career victories. She scored 39.0 or better six times, including a career-best 39.225 in a second-place showing at the WVU Coliseum on Feb. 17. Kaufman also set or matched career highs on vault (9.85), uneven bars (9.85) and floor exercise (9.875).
 
An exercise physiology major with a 4.0 grade point average, she earned the 2019 Big 12 Scholar Athlete of the Year award.
 
Freshman Taylor Sell earned the Sally Medrick Award as the team's most improved gymnast. A native of Manheim, Pennsylvania, Sell competed on balance beam in seven meets this year and earned 66.875 points. Her rookie campaign was highlighted by a season-best score of 9.825, earned in a fifth-place finish at Ohio State on March 2. A last-minute lineup replacement at the NCAA Ann Arbor Regional Championships on April 5, she finished 17th on beam with a 9.775 score.
 
Junior Julia Merwin 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 Frederick, Maryland, Merwin earned 126.325 points in eight meets as a two-event specialist on vault and uneven bars before a leg injury sidelined her for the remainder of the 2019 season. In her first season as a bars specialist, Merwin scored as high as 9.825 and earned a season best, third-place showing at Air Force on Jan. 19. She also posted a season high of 9.8 on vault.
 
All but the Joseph Medrick Award were voted on by the student-athletes.
 
In addition to the team's yearly honors, four Mountaineers were recognized for career point milestones. Senior Kirah Koshinski (1,540.5) passed the 1,500-point threshold, while Kaufman (1,049.475) and Tun (1,023.975) passed the 1,000-career point mark. Junior Chloe Cluchey (562.0) surpassed 500 career points this year.
 
The Mountaineers concluded the 2019 season at 19-12 (0-7), their best win total since earning 21 victories in 2012. WVU finished fourth at the 2019 Big 12 Gymnastics Championship and qualified for the NCAA Ann Arbor Regional Championships.