Koziol Named Hartung Award Winner

University of Nebraska senior gymnast Jim Koziol (Omaha, Neb.) was selected as the 1999 Jim Hartung Award winner at the Nebraska gymnastics banquet over the weekend.

The award, presented by the Nebraska Gymnastics Booster Club, is the highest award a Husker gymnast can receive and combines gymnastics ability, academic achievement and high morale character. The award was named after two-time United States Olympic gymnast and seven-time NCAA champion Jim Hartung, the most decorated gymnast in school history.

A two-time All-American, Koziol led Nebraska to a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships last week. A senior from Millard South, Koziol tied his career high in the all-around in the team finals with a 56.95 and finished sixth on still rings with a score of 9.70 during the event finals. A co-captain this season, he was a finalist for the Nissen-Emery Award and helped the Huskers to a share of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title and West Regional championship. He was just the fourth gymnast in school history to earn two All-America awards on still rings.

In the classroom, Koziol, who maintained a 3.67 GPA in biological sciences, is a third-team GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-American and has been accepted into medical school. Two weeks ago, Koziol was honored as Nebraska’s Male Student-Athlete of the Year.