Ohashi Selected as Finalist for AAI Award

UCLA's Katelyn Ohashi has been selected as one of six finalists for the AAI Award, which is presented to the most outstanding senior female gymnast in the country.

Ohashi joins Alicia Boren (Florida), Brenna Dowell (Oklahoma), Sarah Finnegan (LSU), Olivia Karas (Michigan), and Toni-Ann Williams (California) as finalists for the prestigious award, which will be announced at the NCAA Championship banquet in April. In its history, UCLA has had four winners – Vanessa Zamarripa in 2013, Jamie Dantzscher in 2004, Mohini Bhardwaj in 2001 and Donna Kemp in 1984.

Ohashi has raised the profile of NCAA Gymnastics to unprecedented levels, with her first perfect 10 floor exercise routine this season going viral to the tune of 117 million views. She has gone on to earn four more perfect 10s in 2019, bringing her career total to 10, fourth-most in school history. Ohashi ranks No. 1 in the nation on floor exercise with an NQS of 9.995. She is averaging 9.975 for the year and is unbeaten on floor with 10 victories. On balance beam, she ranks No. 2 in the nation with an NQS of 9.965, and she has a season average of 9.925, with a high of 9.975 achieved four times. Ohashi tied a Pac-12 single-season record this season with five Specialist of the Week awards, giving her a career total of nine, also tying the Pac-12 record.

Last season, Ohashi won a share of the NCAA floor exercise title and helped lead the Bruins to an improbable come-from-behind victory at the NCAA Championships. She was also awarded the Pac-12 Specialist of the Year.

The six-time All-American is a standout off the floor as well, spearheading a fundraiser for Bruin Shelter, a student-run shelter for homeless students at UCLA, and working with Project Heal, a non-profit that provides access to healing for all people with eating disorders. She has used her celebrity platform to spread messages of self-worth, inclusiveness, empathy and finding your joy and has participated on panels around campus to talk to fellow students about body image, eating disorders and mental health. Academically, she earned Director's Honor Roll distinction last quarter and is scheduled to graduate in June with a degree in Gender Studies.