Laeng Earns Big Ten Gymnast of the Week Honors

After leading Nebraska to a season-opening triangular meet victory at Arizona State, junior Jennie Laeng has been named Big Ten Co-Gymnast of the Week, released by the conference Monday.

Laeng, from West Middlesex, Pa., registered her first career all-around victory Friday with a score of 39.350. She was a champion or co-champion in each event, winning the fourth uneven bars title of her career (9.850) as well as her first career vault (9.825), balance beam (9.825) and floor exercise (9.825) titles. She shared the honor with Michigan junior Nicole Artz, who won the all-around with a score of 39.450 against Georgia. Artz also won Big Ten Gymnast of the Week honors last week (Jan. 4).

This is the first weekly honor of the season for Nebraska and the first weekly honor of Laeng’s career. She was a Big Ten co-champion on uneven bars with a 9.95 performance at the 2015 Big Ten Championships, earning her a spot on the Big Ten all-championships team.

A standout outside of the gym as well, Laeng earned academic All-Big Ten honors in 2015 as well as Nebraska’s HERO Leadership Award for outstanding service. The psychology major has earned four spots on the Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll and is a two-time member of the Tom Osborne Citizenship team.

Michigan’s Talia Chiarelli earned Big Ten Event Specialist of the Week honors for the second straight week. Olivia Karas from Michigan also took home Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors for the second straight week.

Laeng, a Pennsylvania native, and Nebraska will return to action Saturday, Jan. 16, to take on Big Ten Conference foe Penn State in University Park, Pa. The meet is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT.