PROVO, Utah – Head gymnastics coach Guard Young announced the addition of Makenna Giles to his staff as the new Volunteer Assistant Coach.
“I’m very honored and excited to be a part of BYU Gymnastics this season,” said Giles. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to learn from Guard, Brogan and Natalie as well as the very talented student athletes. I’m eager to learn all I can about coaching in college while incorporating my competition experience.”
As a student athlete at the University of Utah, Giles achieved two 10.0 scores on vault and floor. She also notched career-high scores of 9.925 on bars, 9.950 on beam and 39.675 for the all-around.
“Makenna has a high-level of competitive gymnastics experience in her past and brings to BYU a background of coaching solid developmental gymnastics,” said associate head coach Natalie Broekman. “Our team already admires and respects her and I know she will connect with our gymnastics and be a great addition to our staff.”
Daughter of Jodi and Paul Merrell, Giles is from Pleasant Grove, Utah and trained at All-American Gymnastics before her time as a collegiate athlete. She is now married to Matthew Giles and coaches at her childhood gym.
As a student athlete, Giles competed for the Red Rocks, and was a nine-time All-American. Along with her All-American titles, she also notched the 2018 Regional Floor champion title and the 2018 Pac-12 vault champion honor.
Giles was not only an incredible athlete, but a top-notch student as she earned the WCGA Scholar All-American honor and was a three-time Pac-12 All-Academic. She was also on the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll all four seasons at Utah. Following her senior season in 2019, Giles received Utah’s Most Outstanding Senior Female Student-Athlete award and the Greg Marsden Leadership award.
As the new Volunteer Assistant Coach for the BYU women’s gymnastics team, Giles will work alongside Head Coach Guard Young, Associate Head Coach Natalie Broekman and Assistant Coach Brogan Evanson.