Grace McCallum isn’t a stranger to accolades and honors at the collegiate level.
She has eight All-America honors in her collegiate career at Utah, with more soon on the way. She is also a conference champion (in either the Pac-12 or Big 12) in the all-around, on floor exercise, uneven bars and vault.
McCallum is quite simply counted among the best gymnasts in all of college gymnastics, as evidenced by her being named one of six finalists for the 2025 AAI Award.
As hard as it may be to believe though, McCallum entered some especially rarefied air Saturday night following the Big 12 Conference championships.
McCallum was named the Big 12 Gymnast of the Year after leading the conference with a national qualifying score (NQS) of 39.605 this season.
McCallum is now one of only four Utah gymnasts ever to be named a conference’s top gymnast (for context purposes, Utah wasn’t in a conference until it joined the Pac-12 in 2012).
The others? Tory Wilson (2014), Georgia Dabritz (2015) and Maile O’Keefe (2021).
By being named gymnast of the year, McCallum finds herself in the same conversation as some of the best gymnasts in college gym history — UCLA’s Kyla Ross (Pac-12 GOY in 2019 and 2020), Oregon State’s Jade Carey (Pac-12 GOY in 2022, 2023 and 2025), Denver’s Jessica Hutchinson (Big 12 GOY in 2022 and 2023) and Oklahoma’s Maggie Nichols (Big 12 GOY in 2018 and 2020), to name some.
McCallum was surprised by the honor (prior to winning the award herself, McCallum had never seen a Red Rock be named gymnast of the year).
“I’m truly honored,” she said. “It is a such a cool thing. I didn’t even know it was a thing, honestly, and then I got pulled up and I was like ‘Oh, wow! Really!?’ I feel very honored.”
McCallum has a chance to etch her name even more securely in Utah’s record books as the season turns to the postseason.
No. 4 Utah is once again a favorite to advance to the national championships, which would mean a chance for McCallum to win an individual national title or two (she is currently the ranked No. 2 in the country on bars, No. 4 on balance beam and No. 9 in the all-around).
And if she were to lead Utah win its first team national championship since 1995, well, McCallum would not be soon forgotten in Salt Lake City.
As it stands, though, now that she is the Big 12 Gymnast of the Year she’s already done enough to be considered alongside some of the best ever in the sport.
Pac-12 Gymnasts of the Year
- 1987 — Tanya Service, UCLA
- 1988 — Jill Andrews, UCLA
- 1989 — Tanya Service, UCLA
- 1990 — Jill Andrews, UCLA
- 1991 — Joy Selig, OSU
- 1992 — Chari Knight, OSU
- 1993 — Stacy Fowlkes, ARIZ
- 1994 — Chari Knight, OSU
- 1995 — Leah Homma, UCLA
- 1996 — Katie Freeland, ASU
- 1997 — Leah Homma, UCLA
- 1998 — Stella Umeh, UCLA
- 1999 — Kiralee Hayashi, UCLA
- 2000 — Heidi Moneymaker, UCLA
- 2001 — Mohini Bhardwaj, UCLA
- 2002 — Jamie Dantzscher, UCLA
- 2003 — Onnie Willis, UCLA
- 2004 — Jeanette Antolin, UCLA
- 2005 — Kristen Maloney, UCLA
- 2006 — Kate Richardson, UCLA
- 2007 — Tasha Schwikert, UCLA
- 2008 — Tabitha Yim, STAN
- 2009 — Mandi Rodriguez, OSU
- 2010 — Vanessa Zamarripa, UCLA
- 2011 — Leslie Mak, OSU
- 2012 — Leslie Mak, OSU
- 2013 — Vanessa Zamarripa, UCLA
- 2014 — Tory Wilson, UTAH
- 2015 — Georgia Dabritz, UTAH
- 2016 — Elizabeth Price, STAN
- 2017 — Kaytianna McMillan, OSU
- 2018 — Elizabeth Price, STAN
- 2019 — Kyla Ross, UCLA
- 2020 — Kyla Ross, UCLA
- 2021 — Maile O’Keefe, UTAH
- 2022 — Jade Carey, OSU
- 2023 — Jade Carey, OSU
- 2024 — Selena Harris, UCLA
- 2025 — Jade Carey, OSU
Big 12 Gymnasts of the Year
- 1997 — Kim Mazza, Iowa State
- 1998 — Ginger Russell, Oklahoma
- 1999 — Amber McCracken, Oklahoma
- 2000 — Heather Brink, Nebraska
- 2001 — Alecia Ingram, Nebraska
- 2002 — Mariana Goncalves, Oklahoma
- 2003 — Richelle Simpson, Nebraska
- 2004 — Kasie Tamayo, Oklahoma
- 2005 — Erin LaBarr, Oklahoma
- 2006 — Janet Anson, Iowa State
- 2007 — Janet Anson, Iowa State; Emily Parsons, Nebraska
- 2008 — Kiara Redmond-Sturms, Oklahoma
- 2009 — Sarah Shire, Missouri; Kylie Stone, Nebraska
- 2010 — Sarah Shire, Missouri, Sr.
- 2011 — Michelle Browning, Iowa State, Jr.
- 2012 — Mary Burke, Missouri, Sr.
- 2013 — Taylor Spears, Oklahoma, Jr.
- 2014 — Haley Scaman, Oklahoma, So.
- 2015 — Haley Scaman, Oklahoma, Jr.
- 2016 — Nina McGee, Denver; Chayse Capps, Oklahoma
- 2017 — Chayse Capps, Oklahoma
- 2018 — Maggie Nichols, Oklahoma
- 2019 — Brenna Dowell, Oklahoma
- 2020 — Maggie Nichols, Oklahoma
- 2021 — Lynnzee Brown, Denver; Anastasia Webb, Oklahoma
- 2022 — Jessica Hutchinson, Denver
- 2023 — Jessica Hutchinson, Denver
- 2024 — Jordan Bowers, Oklahoma
- 2025 — Grace McCallum, Utah