A BYU and Utah gymnast are nominees for the closest thing college gymnastics has to the Heisman Trophy

NCAA women’s gymnastics doesn’t have a Heisman Trophy, which is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football.

What college gymnastics does have, though, is the AAI Award, which for the last 30-plus years has been presented to the most outstanding senior female gymnast in the country.

On Monday, American Athletic, Inc. released the nominees for the 2022 AAI Award and BYU’s Sadie Miner Van-Tassell and Utah’s Cristal Isa made the list.

A total of 34 gymnasts from around the country were nominated. The AAI Award is a coaches award, facilitated by AAI.

Every year, NCAA head coaches are asked to submit a nomination for the candidate or candidates of their choice (by way of comparison, the Heisman Trophy is voted up on by media and former Heisman Trophy winners).

Both Miner-Van Tassell and Isa have been standouts for their respective teams this season.

Miner-Van Tassell has been the best all-around gymnast in the Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference, winning the conference’s Gymnast of the Week award every week this season, except one.

Isa, meanwhile, has been Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week and Pac-12 Specialist of the Week, and is one of only three Red Rocks to score a perfect 10 this year.

The five previous winners of the AAI Award were Minnesota’s Lexy Ramler (2021), Oklahoma’s Maggie Nichols (2020), LSU’s Sarah Finnegan (2019), Stanford’s Elizabeth Price (2018) and LSU’s Ashleigh Gnat (2017).

The 2022 AAI nominees

• Audrey Barber — University of Maryland.
• Alyssa Baumann — University of Florida.
• Rachel Baumann — University of Georgia.
• Alissa Bonsall — Penn State University.
• Maya Bordas — University of California.
• Rachel Borden — University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
• Lauren Bridgens — Penn State University.
• Kyla Bryant — Stanford University.
• Ariana Castrence — Temple University.
• Leah Clapper — University of Florida.
• Kathryn Doran — University of Bridgeport.
• Sami Durante — Louisiana State University.
• Norah Flatley — UCLA.
• Derrian Gobourne — Auburn University.
• Isabel Goyco — Texas Woman’s University.
• Lexi Graber — University of Alabama.
• Belle Huang — Rutgers University.
• Cristal Isa — University of Utah.

• Anna Kaziska — Southeast Missouri State University.
• Ona Loper — University of Minnesota.
• Colby Miller — Ohio State University.
• Olivia Miller — University of Pittsburgh.
• Emily Muhlenhaupt – Boise State University.
• Maggie O’Hara — University of Arkansas.
• Nya Reed — University of Florida.
• Kynsee Roby — University of Nebraska.
• Alexandria Ruiz — University of Denver.
• Savannah Schoennherr — University of Florida.
• Megan Skaggs — University of Florida.
• Trinity Thomas — University of Florida.
• Olivia Trautman — University of Oklahoma.
• Sadie Miner-Van Tassell — Brigham Young University.

• Drew Watson — Auburn University.
• Natalie Wojcik — University of Michigan.