Kupets is First UGA Female Athlete to Win Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year

The University of Georgia has a lot to be proud of: a National Championship in football, several SEC Titles in football and some in Mens and Womens Basketball, a National Championship in Baseball (1990) as well as a National Runner Up in Baseball (2008), and several National Titles in Gymnastics.

But something happened today that has never happened at UGA. Senior Gymnast and Athens, GA native Courtney Kupets was awarded the 33rd annual Honda-Broderick Cup, signifying her as the 2009 Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year by. Kupets is the first student-athlete from Georgia to win this prestigious award.

Kupets was presented with the award by former U.S. Olympic Softball Gold Medalist and 1993 Honda-Broderick Cup recipient Lisa Fernandez. Kupets is the second gymnast to ever receive this award, the first being Missy Marlowe from Utah back in 1992. This is just another great accomplishment for the UGA Athletic Department and the Bulldog Nation should be proud.

The Honda-Broderick Cup goes to the female athlete who best exemplifies outstanding athletic achievement, team contributions, academic achievement and community involvement. Kupets had this to say about winning the Honda-Broderick Cup: “The Honda-Broderick Cup is a bit different than any other award, and it actually feels like the biggest award I've ever won. I think one of the things that makes it so special for me is that it honors achievement in academics as well as in athletics. While going to school, it's sometimes hard to balance everything in your life, including sports, studies and friends. But winning this award shows me that if you work hard enough and put your heart and soul into something you can succeed in the end. As athletes, many of us understand that education is very important because that's what's going to get us through the rest of our lives.”

As Georgia Bulldog color commentator Jeff Dantzler would say, "That's another Bulldog Point of Pride." For more on this story, the reader can go to www.georgiadogs.com.