Pitt News Male Athlete of the Week

Name: Keith Gavin Sport: Wrestling… Pitt News Male Athlete of the Week

Name: Keith Gavin Sport: Wrestling Age: 21 Class: Junior Major: Philosophy Favorite movie: “Fight Club” Favorite TV show: “King of Queens” Favorite music: “Anything except country.”

Gavin has been wrestling since the age of 5, so its no wonder why now, at 21, he has developed the skills necessary to be one of the nation’s top wrestlers in the 174-pound weight class division. As the No. 2 seed in the country, Gavin ultimately placed second at the NCAA Wrestling Championships on March 17.

Unlike many of his competitors, Gavin didn’t spend his moments before the match getting pumped up to the tunes on his iPod. Instead, Gavin does nothing more than “just relax.”

Despite the fact that many wrestlers are limited to what they can eat, especially in the moments before they compete in which they have to weigh in, Gavin normally finds enough space to enjoy his pre-competition peanut butter and jelly. The peanut butter and jelly has paid off, because, with a record of 28-4 record, the Eastern Wrestling League Champion is tied for seventh for Pitt’s most wins by a junior and 12th among Pitt’s career pin leaders.

Gavin doesn’t plan to use his philosophy degree in his future career field, unless he decides to go into teaching. Instead, he hopes to continue wrestling professionally, possibly making the world team. Other than wrestling, he sees a future in coaching and teaching young kids more about the sport he loves. However, until he graduates, Gavin is focusing on continuing to train hard every day in preparation for his final season.

With a stellar season under his belt and as the only Panther to reach the NCAA finals since 2003, Gavin continues to gain recognition for his success. Even this past Sunday, Gavin, Pitt’s 43rd All-American, was recognized at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Dapper Dan Wrestling Classic as the Pennsylvania Collegiate Wrestler of the Year.

Pitt News Female Athlete of the Week

Name: Dani Bryan Sport: Gymnastics Age: 19 Class: Freshman Major: Pre-med Favorite sport (aside from gymnastics): NFL

Running across the living room floor, 3-year-old Dani Bryan stumbles and falls. Picking herself up, she starts running again and this time smacks into the wall. Her mother decides it’s time to do something about her child’s clumsiness and takes a second look at the flier that has come in the mail. Then she decides to enroll her uncoordinated daughter in gymnastics classes.

Sixteen years later, that daughter is still tumbling, but now it’s with skill and style.

Bryan, a freshman from Germantown, Md., has had an amazing season so far with the Pitt gymnastics team, and it’s not over yet.

Last week, in a meet against Oklahoma, ranked 10th in the nation, Bryan nailed her third beam routine in a row scoring a 9.725 and scored a career-high 9.85 on the floor exercise. And that’s not even her highest score of the season.

On vault, her favorite event, her high is a 9.925. On the bars she’s achieved a 9.75, and on the beam she boasts a 9.725. Her all-around high score is a 38.825.

While Bryan humbly admits that she’s a freshman and many of her scores are labeled “career-highs,” she has had higher scores than most.

And she’s not stopping yet – her goal is to get a perfect 10.

In high school, Bryan trained at Hill’s Gymnastics, home of current Pitt teammate Anya Chayka and Olympians Dominique Dawes, Elise Ray and Courtney Kupets. In the 2006 regional competition, she won the vault competition, placed second on beam, third on floor and fourth in the all-around. Her fame was known throughout her town and high school.

“It was a little embarrassing because my dad and the principal were friends,” she admitted. “My dad would send in videos of my competition from the weekend, and the principal would put up highlights on the morning news. I’d just sit there and want to cry,” she said laughing.

“I wanted to train elite in high school to get to the Olympics, every gymnast’s dream,” Bryan said. “But I never got that far, and I felt like I didn’t need to put myself in that situation because school was going to get me farther than gymnastics in life.”

Bryan, who was a National Merit Scholarship qualifier, is on the pre-med track and said her dream job would be team doctor for a professional sports team.

“I know I’m going to stay close to gymnastics,” she said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I can’t ever completely leave it.”