BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The honors keep rolling in for Seattle Pacific standout Darian Burns, who Tuesday was named the NCAA Division II Gymnast of the Year by the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA).
 
Burns completed her collegiate career as a two-time national champion and 12-time All-American. Competing at the USA Gymnastics Collegiate level, which includes Division II, III and some Division I schools, she captured the 2017 floor exercise title and in 2019 was crowned the all-around national champion.
 
In 2020, Burns boasted the Falcons' top score in all four events, with a 9.800 or higher on every apparatus. She was also the team's top all-around competitor.
 
Burns compiled 11 event wins this season, including five on the vault, four on the floor and two on the bars. She claimed three all-around titles and has reached the 39-point plateau six times during her career, equaling the school record.
 
In her final home routine, on Feb. 21 versus San Jose State, Burns concluded the competition with a career-high 9.925 performance on the floor, a score that was the second-best ever recorded by an SPU gymnast.

DARIAN  BURNS FLOOR EXERCISE ROUTINE

 At that same meet in Brougham Pavilion, Burns posted a bars score of 9.875 that also surpassed her previous career best and was the seventh-highest mark produced by a Falcon.
 
A vault score of 9.900 on Feb. 8 tied the school record on that apparatus. That lofty vault output propelled Burns to an career-best, four-event total of 39.375. She was just shy of the school's all-around record, coming within 0.025 points of the 39.400 score that Maria Hundley tallied in 2016.
  A product of Druid Hills High School in Atlanta, Georgia, Burns led SPU to three meet victories during the 2020 campaign and a 9-8 overall record against a group of primarily Division I opponents.
 
The WCGA is the governing body for women's college gymnastics and serves as the national coaches organization.
 
The 2020 season ended prematurely for the SPU gymnasts along with all teams nationwide after the NCAA announced on March 13 the cancellation of all winter and spring championships. That came one day prior to the Falcons' final regular-season meet, at Washington.
 
SPU was scheduled to compete at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships on March 21 in Davis, California and the USA Gymnastics Collegiate Championships, April 9-11 in Ithaca, New York.