Director of Athletics Allison Rich presenting Kylie Gorgenyi with the Urquhart Student-Athlete of the Year Award.
Chasing Perfection
5/19/2023 12:13:00 PM | Women's Gymnastics
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Gorgenyi Wins Urquhart Award, Will Return for One More Season
By Allen Lessels Special to UNHWildcats.com
University of New Hampshire senior Kylie Gorgenyi went chasing perfection, as gymnasts do, that Sunday afternoon in early February in Denton, Texas, in the Kitty Magee Arena on the campus of Texas Woman's University.
And she darned near caught it.
Gorgenyi put her power and grace to work in her final competition of the late afternoon on the uneven parallel bars and when she stuck her dismount to finish her routine there was not a whole lot more she could have done.
One of the judges flashed the elusive number: A perfect 10.
"I dropped to the floor," Gorgenyi said. "I couldn't believe it. It was almost like a dream. I've seen them for others, but that was the first time for me."
The perfect mark from one of the judges helped lift Gorgenyi to a score of 9.950 for that rotation, Kylie's best score ever and one that tied UNH's program record for uneven bars.
The performance on bars earned Gorgenyi the "Highlight of the Year" honors for the UNH athletic department at the fifth annual Senior Showcase, a night at the WESPYs, held at Lundholm Gymnasium on Tuesday, May 9. Deputy Director of Athletics Fumi Kimura presenting the Highlight of the Year Award to Gorgenyi
Not long after receiving the "Highlight" award, Gorgenyi was called back to the stage as a winner of the 2023 Jim Urquhart Student-Athlete Award, the most prestigious honor handed out to a senior for exceling not only on the mat or field, but recognizing academic prowess and community service as well.
Nordic skier Scott Schulz was the Urquhart award winner from a men's team.
"It was pretty cool to get the Urquhart Award," Gorgenyi said. "I was very surprised. There were lot of real good athletes nominated for it."
Tying the uneven bars record that day in Texas caught Gorgenyi a little off guard, too. She didn't discover that her 9.950 score had tied the school record until the Wildcats were most of the way home from the meet. Head coach Lindsey Bruck Ayotte gave her the word when the team landed at Logan Airport en route back to Durham.
"I knew the score was up there, but I didn't know what the record was at the time," Gorgenyi said. "That was a little surreal."
Ayotte called it a "Wow" moment.
"It's like a 'Wow' moment, a speechless moment," Ayotte said. "It's hard to always try to be perfect as a gymnast. To be able to achieve that and get a '10' from a judge is almost a sigh of relief. It's a great feeling, You know that all your hard work has paid off and one judge really did think it was perfect. Plenty of amazing gymnasts have never gotten a '10.'"
Tying UNH's beam record with the 9.950 left Gorgenyi wanting more.
"It really gave me motivation to break it," she said. "It's like, 'If I can tie it, I can break it.' I've definitely got a lot of that motivation going into next year, as well as other motivations. I want to go into next year really planning to engrave my name into the program, being that strong athlete for the team."
Gorgenyi, who came to UNH out of North Reading, Mass., went back and forth from the beginning of the season on whether she would return for her fifth year next season and not knowing the answer helped her approach during the season, she felt. Gorgenyi on Senior Day
"I really took it like it could be my last year and I wanted to give it everything I had and leave it all out there for my team," Gorgenyi said. "I love the sport and wanted to leave it on the floor for every single competition. Every meet, there was something good to take away from it. It was a great season and there were a lot of highs."
After a number of conversations with Ayotte and her coaching staff, Gorgenyi decided she wanted to stay and help to keep building a family and winning culture on the team.
She earns her undergraduate degree in sport management and leadership Saturday and will take courses next year to set herself up for graduate school down the road.
Ayotte and assistant coaches Steve Avgerinos and Amanda Keglovits were thrilled when, during her individual end-of-season-meeting, Gorgenyi informed them that yes, she wanted to return.
"I got up and gave her a giant hug," Ayotte said. "It was a great feeling for all of us. Kylie is a special individual and a very, very talented gymnast. She wants to continue to instill that culture of hard work. She has such a passion for the sport and such a passion to do well academically and to do that for the team and the program. She keeps getting better and better. This past year she was a rock for us. Numerous times we had a fall in front of her and she stood up every single time and rose to the challenge." Gorgenyi and head coach Lindsey Bruck Ayotte
Gorgenyi and Ayotte have lofty expectations, for Kylie as well as the team, for next year. They plan to pick up where this season left off.
"I'm definitely setting my goals pretty high," Gorgenyi said. "I feel real lucky to have this fifth year. I can't imagine being done after four years. I feel like I haven't peaked yet and to get an opportunity to have a fifth year is amazing to me and I'm going to make the best use out of it I can. I'm excited to get back out there."
Both coach and athlete are excited about the fact they are trying a different form of leadership on the team next season, an idea Gorgenyi and a few teammates brought to the coaches.
Rather than captains, they plan to have a leadership council that will give each of the six most veteran gymnasts on the team a voice. Gorgenyi and Kenadi Brown are both coming back for their fifth years, while Jenna DeVincenzo, Gianna Graver, Sierra Bauman and Maya MacDonald will be seniors.
"We're not like a football team where we need a captain to talk to a referee," Gorgenyi said. "Everything we do is team oriented. Why shouldn't our leaders be like that as well? We thought let's have leadership groups. I've seen and heard of it working really well with other schools and gymnastics teams. I think it's going to be great."
