WVU Sports Hall of Fame

Inducted: 2009

Written by Bryan Messerly

Kristin Quackenbush-DiBartolomeo excelled in two sports – gymnastics and track & field – earning seven All-America honors during her five-year (1994-98) Mountaineer career.

The Whitesboro, N.Y., native is the poster-athlete for the WVU gymnastics program, having earned five perfect 10 scores over the course of her career, including two in a quad-meet sweep over George Washington, Massachusetts and Rutgers (March 15, 1997).

Each of Quackenbush-DiBartolomeo’s years as a Mountaineer gymnast was filled with honors and awards. Through her first three seasons, she earned six All-America honors, including a first team vault award that accompanied her third-place finish at the 1996 NCAA Championship – still the highest finish on the national stage for any WVU gymnast. The two-time team captain also captured three Atlantic 10 titles and two East Atlantic Gymnastics League (EAGL) titles. Additionally, she was named the 1994 Atlantic 10 Freshman of the Year and the 1995 Atlantic 10 Gymnast of the Year.

Quackenbush-DiBartolomeo saved her most prolific season for her senior year, as she was named WVU’s first-ever AAI American Award winner in 1997; the award recognizes the national collegiate gymnast of the year. She was also named the 1997 NCAA Woman of the Year for West Virginia, the unanimous EAGL Gymnast of the Year and the EAGL Outstanding Senior Gymnast. Quackenbush-DiBartolomeo was equally impressive in competition, taking the 1997 EAGL floor and all-around titles, and earning first team all-conference honors on each event.

Along with her national notoriety, Quackenbush-DiBartolomeo was repeatedly recognized within the gymnastics program and the WVU Athletic Department. A two-time Red Brown Cup winner (1996, ’97), she also earned the 1996 and 1997 Joseph Medrick Award and the inaugural John Quackenbush Award in 1997.

Quackenbush-DiBartolomeo made the most of her collegiate experience, and with her fifth year of eligibility, moved from the gym to the track and excelled in the pole vault during her one season with the WVU track & field team, earning her seventh All-America honor with a fourth-place (12’ 1½”) finish at the 1998 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Additionally, she finished in 10th place at the NCAA Indoor Championships. As was her calling card in both sports, Quackenbush-DiBartolomeo captured the BIG EAST and ECAC pole vault titles at that season’s indoor and outdoor championships.

Quackenbush-DiBartolomeo also excelled in a third arena – the classroom. A two-time NACGC/W Scholastic All-American, the 1998 physical education/teaching graduate was also a two-time EAGL All-Academic honoree and a member of the WVU Athletic Director’s Academic Honor Roll. Quackenbush-DiBartolomeo earned her master’s in business at WVU in 2000.

She continues to reside in Morgantown with her husband, David, and their two sons, Anthony (3) and John (1), and works as a project manager at Mylan.