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Megan Laurie
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Kyle Chilton
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UVSC’s Pikus-Pace Named Sportswoman of the Year Finalist
Women’s Sports Foundation has nominated Utah Valley State College graduate and World Cup skeleton champion Noelle Pikus-Pace for the 2005 Sportswoman of the Year award.
Pikus-Pace graduated from UVSC in 2005 with a degree in integrated studies. While at UVSC, she participated in track while also training in the skeleton, a one-person race in which participants go down a track similar to bobsled on a small, flat sled. Pikus-Pace began competing in the bobsled near the end of high school but soon switched to the skeleton after her coach introduced her to the event.
In November 2004, Pikus-Pace won her first medal, the gold at the Winterberg World Cup in Germany. One month later, she earned the gold again at the World Cup in Igls, Austria and at the World Cup in Sigulda, Latvia. Following her victories, she was ranked No. 1 in the world in women’s skeleton, the first woman to hold that distinction. She was named the U.S. Olympic Athlete of the Week by USAToday.com and Female Athlete of the month in December and February by the United States Olympic Committee. Pikus-Pace ended the season with the World Cup overall title by claiming a silver medal in Switzerland and a bronze in Lake Placid, N.Y. She is the first American woman to earn the accolade.
This year she competes for a spot in the 2006 Winter Olympic Games. Vote Pikus-Pace Sportswoman of the Year by visiting www.WomensSportsFoundation.org. Voting ends this Friday, September 9.