Denelle Pedrick: Boyden Award Winner

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- It's more than 1,200 miles from Denelle Pedrick's hometown, Wilcox, Saskatchewan, on the Canadian prairie, to Mount Pleasant. For the record, it's a 21-plus hour drive or a seven-hour flight.

Yet for as far as Pedrick came, literally, to pursue an education and athletic excellence, she may have come further as a person since arriving on the Central Michigan University campus little more than three years ago.

Pedrick has been named the 2019 recipient of the prestigious Bill Boyden Award, which goes annually to the Chippewa student-athlete who best combines the qualities of leadership, athletic ability, community concerns, and loyalty to the university. Bill Boyden earned his degree from CMU in 1935.

Pedrick's name will be added to the list of winners, which includes some of the very best to have ever come through the Mount Pleasant campus and pridefully worn the maroon and gold. She will be recognized on Saturday during the Central Michigan-Akron football game at Kelly/Shorts Stadium (3 p.m. kickoff).

"I'm absolutely honored and I feel blessed because I know there are a lot of athletes who are very deserving of this," Pedrick said. "A lot of good leaders, good athletes and overall great people. I've always strived to follow in their footsteps and be the best leader and best teammate I can be."

Pedrick has been pretty darned good on every front, and she enters her senior season as one of the most decorated gymnasts in program history.

A clinical exercise science major with designs on a career as a physician assistant, Pedrick carries a 3.76 grade point average, has three times been named a Scholastic All-American by the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association, and has twice earned Academic All-Mid-American Conference honors.

She is the reigning MAC Gymnast of the Year after winning the vault and all-around at the MAC Championships in March and qualifying for the NCAA Regional. She is a two-time NCAA Regional champion.

She has also become an ambassador for CMU and its gymnastics program, competing with Canada in the World University Games in both 2017 and 2019. She helped Canada to a silver medal in the 2017 Games in Taiwan, and in July, she placed runner-up on vault and was seventh all-around in the Games in Italy.

Pedrick is the first Chippewa gymnast to win the Boyden Award since Kara Reighard in 2004 and just the third in the award's 38-year history.

"It's a tremendous honor, obviously, both for Denelle and for our program," gymnastics coach Christine MacDonald said. "I think Denelle is a true representation of what it means to be a Chippewa. "Putting aside all of the athletic accolades, Denelle is someone who has passion, has strong character, and her work ethic and her commitment, not only to her gymnastics training but also to her academics, is exemplary.

"All of our kids who come through our Gym School program, they instantly attach to her. When she's there she just shines. She has a positive energy about her, she is charismatic, and she's someone you look to not only do the right thing, but to also lead by example. She's done that at every level. She is not only successful on the gymnastics competition floor, she is successful in the classroom and everything outside of that."

Pedrick is a member of two of Zyzelewski Family Director of Athletics Michael Alford's key initiatives, the Athletic Director's Table and the Igniting Leaders Board. She has also been among the dedicated Chippewa student-athletes who volunteer their time for regular visits to elementary schools and to senior-living centers, and she has been deeply involved with the aforementioned Gym School.

All of which has helped foster personal growth in Pedrick, who arrived on campus as a 17-year-old, leaving behind her family -- her parents and three siblings, including her twin sister.

"I've grown and developed as a person and an athlete for sure," Pedrick said. "Coming in as a freshman, wide-eyed and not knowing what to expect, I never would have thought that my life would change this much.

"I've definitely learned to lean on my teammates, my coaches, my roommates. I've kind of adopted them as family. I'm very thankful for the opportunity that I was given here at Central Michigan."

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