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• 2002 NCAA Southeast Region Assistant Coach of the Year Penny Jernigan enters her 15th season as a North Carolina assistant gymnastics coach. As a balance beam and floor exercise coach, she has developed several talented Tar Heel gymnasts, including All-Americas Christine Robella and two-time national champion Courtney Bumpers. Bumpers was a balance beam All-America in 2003 and a floor exercise All-America and national champion in 2004 and 2005. Jernigan also has coached the only three gymnasts in Carolina history who have earned perfect scores -- Bumpers and Anna Wilson (2003) on floor exercise and Brooke Wilson (2001) on balance beam. She was named the Southeast Region Assistant Coach of the Year in 2002 and again in 2004, when the team came within 0.025 points of a second-place finish at regionals that was needed to send it to nationals. Jernigan is a 1992 graduate of Campbell University, where she attended on an academic scholarship. During her years at Campbell, she coached gymnastics in Raleigh, and after graduating she served as the Level 10 and Elite girls' team coach at Gymcarolina Gymnastics Academy. She is a National level judge. Jernigan and her husband, Rayme, have a daughter, Blythe Starling (3). |
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