State College, Pa., March 21, 2001 - Penn State senior Gemma Cuff (Loughborough, England) has been named as one of six finalists for the 2001 American Award, which is the known as the equivalent of the college football's Heisman Trophy in women's gymnastics.

The award, which is sponsored by the American Athletic Association, will be presented during the NCAA Championships in Athens, Ga. on April 19-21.

Joining Cuff among the final nominees' are Alabama's Katie Hornecker, UCLA's Mohini Bhardwaj, Georgia's Suzanne Sears, Michigan's Bridget Knaeble and Ohio State's Lindsey Vagedes.

Cuff, the squad's lone returning All-American from the 2000 squad, battled through some early season injuries to post five first-place event finishes, including four on the vault. She competed in the all-around during three meets this season, a year after being one of only two Nittany Lions to enter the all-around in all 11 of the team's meets in 2000. During her career at Penn State Cuff tied the school's all-time record score on the vault with a 9.950 in 2000. Cuff earned All-Big Ten status four times in the first three years of her career.

Cuff also excels in the classroom as she currently boasts a 3.31 cumulative grade point average in kinesiology and she plans to pursue a career in medicine.

Penn State opens up postseason action this weekend as it travels to Ann Arbor, Mich., for the 2001 Big Ten Championships on Sat., march 24 at 6:00 p.m. Live scoring for the conference championships will be available via the internet by logging on at www.GoPSUsports.com and clicking on the designated link.