Coach Evanson, Boden, Zhong and van Mierlo recognized at annual Y Awards

PROVO, Utah — BYU Athletics honored assistant coach Brogan Evanson, Angel Zhong, Abby Boden and Jill van Mierlo during the annual Y Awards hosted at the Marriott Center on Wednesday night.

Brogan Evanson was named Assistant Coach of the Year. Evanson works as the vault and floor coach as well as the team choreographer. The floor team this year is ranked No. 13 in the nation after earning a 49.400 at the Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference Championships last weekend. Evanson also coordinated the first BYU-hosted Junior Olympic Cougar Classic meet, creating an opportunity for more than 500 local gymnasts to compete on BYU campus.

Freshman Abby Boden was named Walk-on of the Year. Boden came to BYU as a walk-on after placing third on bars, ninth in the all-around and 10th in beam and floor in her classification at the 2017 Junior Olympic National Championships. Boden recorded personal bests of 9.850 on bars and 9.900 on beam as she competed in the lineup at every meet this season.

Sophomore Angel Zhong earned the Cougar Club Memorial Award for outstanding scholarly achievement. Zhong has maintained a 4.0 GPA as a pre-management major with a minor in Chinese. In 2017, she was an All-MRGC First Team selection on vault and earned a Scholastic All-American Award through the National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches/Women. This season, Zhong recorded high scores of 9.850 on vault and bars and 9.750 on beam.

The event also offered a good-natured unofficial designation to senior Jill van Mierlo and her fiance, Rory Linkletter, as the BYU Couple of the Year.

The gymnastics team had two finalists for other awards. Shannon Hortman Evans was a finalist for the Female Crowd Pleaser of the Year, and Mackenzie Douglas was a finalist for the Leona Holbrook Spirit of Sport Award honoring the senior female athlete who exemplifies the true spirit of sport in athletics and life.