May 22, 2008

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Graduate student and University of Maryland gymnast Gretchen Kittelberger added to her impressive list of athletic and academic accomplishment Thursday afternoon when she was named a CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine First-Team Academic All-District performer.

A native of Webster, N.Y., Kittelberger owns a 4.0 GPA in kinesiology. As one of 10 members of the all-district team, Kittelberger is now eligible for academic all-American status.

Academic honors are nothing new to Kittelberger, who last year won the Atlantic Coast Conference's Postgraduate Scholarship Award. Kittelberger has also twice been named the East Atlantic Gymnast League's Scholar-Athlete and made the EAGL All-Academic Team all four of her years as an undergraduate student. Kittelberger was the ACC Community Service Award winner in 2006 and was the valedictorian of her high school class at Webster Schroeder High School.

On the mat, Kittelberger averaged a 9.520 on vault, 9.15 on bars, 9.383 on beam and 9.596 on floor last season. Kittelberger posted a 38.225 in her only all-around performance of the season.

-TERPS-