Iowa State’s Jade Vella-Wright, along with Denver’s Alexis Vasquez and Oklahoma’s Maggie Nichols and Vanessa Deniz have earned Big 12 gymnastics awards for week seven.

Nichols was named the Gymnast of the Week for the fourth time this year after posting a pair of perfect scores on vault and bars to open a tri-meet against West Virginia and Texas Woman’s University. Her 10 on vault was her third of the year and eighth of her career, while her 10 on bars served as the fourth of her career. Nichols leads the country in perfect scores in 2020 (4) as her 21 career perfect scores are tied for the fourth-most in NCAA history. Nichols’ performance on vault helped the Sooners to a program record 49.775 score. She was also a part of an Oklahoma lineup that became the first team this season to throw six vaults with a 10.0 start value.

Vasquez earned Event Specialist of the Week for the fourth time this season and second in the last three weeks. The sophomore scored a 10 on the beam in the Pioneers’ win over George Washington. She now owns two of Denver’s three perfect scores on beam and is only the third gymnast in program history to earn multiple perfect 10s in the same season. Her score solidified Denver’s program record 49.650 team score on the event.

Vella-Wright earned her first career Newcomer of the Week honor after setting a career-high on bars (9.925) at the GymQuarters Invitational, featuring No. 9 LSU, No. 19 Missouri and Lindenwood. With her score on bars she has recorded a 9.900 or better in each of the last four meets. She is the second Cyclone freshman in school history to score a 9.925 or better on bars and is the only freshman to tally four-straight scores above a 9.900 in the event.

Deniz earned her second Newcomer of the Week award following a career night against West Virginia and TWU. The freshman tallied a career-best 9.9 on bars, the second-highest mark of the meet behind Nichols’ perfect score. On floor she set another career-high with a 9.925 and was one of two gymnasts at the meet to break 9.9. She posted a pair of top-two finishes on both events in the best meet of her career.

2020 Big 12 Gymnastics Weekly Award Winners

Date	Gymnast of the Week	Event Specialist of the Week	Newcomer of the Week
Jan. 6	Maggie Nichols, OU, Sr.	Alexis Vasquez, DU, So.	Ragan Smith, OU
Jan. 13	Maggie Nichols, OU, Sr.	Alexis Vasquez, DU, So.	Ragan Smith, OU
Jan. 21	Maggie Nichols, OU, Sr.	Andrea Maldonado, ISU, Jr.	Makayla Maxwell, ISU  Ragan Smith, OU
Jan. 27	Maddie Karr, DU, Sr.  Anastasia Webb, OU, Jr.	Chloe Cluchey, WVU, Sr.	Vanessa Deniz, OU
Feb. 3	Maddie Karr, DU, Sr.	Alexis Vasquez, DU, So.	Ragan Smith, OU
Feb. 10	Lynnzee Brown, DU, Jr.	Natalia Ros Vaquer, ISU, Jr.	Andrea Maldanado, ISU
Feb. 17	Maggie Nichols, OU, Sr.	Alexis Vasquez, DU, So.	Jade Vella-Wright, ISU  Vanessa Deniz, OU