May 12, 2007 By Staff And Wire Reports 2 min read

Courtney Kupets of Georgia has won the Honda Award as the nation’s top college gymnast, an honor based on the results of national balloting among 1,000 NCAA member schools as part of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards program. The 5-foot-3 sophomore was the NCAA All-Around champion again this year, leading the Lady Bulldogs to their third straight NCAA title. Kupets won the all-around and vault and tied for second on uneven bars and floor.

She won a silver medal in the team all-around and bronze in the uneven bars at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Kupets had the first “perfect 10.0” of her career on the uneven bars in Georgia’s victory over Alabama.

“Having been nominated last year as a freshman was very cool,” Kupets said. “Being nominated again and then winning the Honda Sports Award is kind of surreal. We all work so hard and to get the recognition for our efforts, first with the NCAA national title and then on an individual level with this award is … wow. It makes it feel like hard work really does pay off and there are people out there that really appreciate it.”

The Honda Award is given annually to the top female athletes in 12 NCAA sports. Kupets is a nominee for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year Award, which will be announced June 25 in New York.

Kupets has several ties to Fayette County. She is the daughter of Brownsville graduate Mark Kupets and his wife Patti Kupets, the granddaughter of Murtha Kupets and the late John A. Kupets of Republic, and the niece of Fayette County Baseball League president Dan Kupets of Uniontown and Rosemary Hogan of Merrittstown.

Kupets, a Furnishings and Interiors major, expects to graduate in 2009. She was named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll with a GPA of 3.83.