The Pac-12 Networks aired a one-hour show Wednesday evening to highlight two seniors – one male and one female – from each of the conference’s schools who best exemplified a commitment to athletics, academics and leadership.
The 24 student-athletes in focus were the winners of the 2016 Tom Hansen conference medals, and for UCLA, gymnastics’ Danusia Francis and men’s water polo’s Danny McClintick took home the honors.
Under coach Valorie Kondos Field, Francis finished three of her four years as one of the top four balance beam competitors in the country, landing 133 of her 135 routines. She was a co-national champion in the balance beam in 2016, making her a six-time All-American. Francis also became only the second UCLA gymnast ever to score more than one perfect 10 on the beam when she posted her second one on March 6 against Georgia and Stanford.
Francis made an immediate impact in her first two years for the Bruins. She finished eighth in the beam at the NCAA Championships her freshman season, and she followed that up with a historic performance in her sophomore year by nailing a sideways side aerial to a layout full dismount off the side of the beam to become the first collegiate gymnast to ever do so. Combined with a 9.898 average for the event, that led to her placement on the Jamaican national team for the 2015 World Championships.
McClintick also shined in his first two years. He played in all of the Bruins’ 65 games, making 46 starts as an underclassman. He scored 37 goals his freshman year and followed up with 38 goals his sophomore year when he was second on the team in that category to then-junior Paul Reynolds. He did, however, lead the team with 62 assists and was also second in field blocks, culminating in a third-team All-American award.
In the 2014 national championship game, McClintick scored four goals and had the game winning assist against rival USC, breaking the Trojans’ streak of six consecutive national titles. He was named tournament MVP and an honorable mention All-American, and after recovering from an automobile accident in the offseason, was named a co-captain his senior year. McClintick led the Bruins to an undefeated 30-0 season and a back-to-back championship.
Additionally, McClintick organized a run to defeat Lou Gehrig’s disease at the 2016 Los Angeles Marathon.
Both he and Francis garnered all-conference academic honors three times, and were also awarded special honors by UCLA in May.
Francis was one of four Bruin Leadership Award winners, which honors student-athletes who have made a significant impact through their service inside and outside of UCLA’s athletic community, and McClintick won the Student-Athletes Understand that Character Creates Educational Self-Sufficiency award given by Academic and Student Services to two student-athletes who best navigated the program to accomplish their academic and personal goals.