UCLA's Kyla Ross Selected as Honda Sport Award Finalist
April 06, 2020 | Gymnastics
For the second consecutive season, UCLA's Kyla Ross has been named a finalist for the Honda Sport Award for gymnastics.
Ross completed a historic career with 22 perfect 10s (tied for fourth-most in NCAA history), four individual (2017 bars and beam, 2019 vault and floor) and one team (2018) NCAA title, and six individual (2017 beam; 2018 all-around, bars; 2019 all-around, bars, floor) and two team (2018, 2019) Pac-12 titles. She set several NCAA records during her time at UCLA, including most career perfect 10s on uneven bars (11), most 10s in a single season (14 in 2019) and most consecutive meets with a perfect 10 (10 in 2019). Ross also became the first gymnast in NCAA history to record two Gym Slams in the same season, recording at least two perfect 10s on each event during her junior year. Additionally, she became the first female gymnast ever to win Olympic, World and NCAA Championships.
The 2020 and 2019 Pac-12 Gymnast of the Year, Ross ranked No. 1 in the nation on uneven bars for an unprecedented fourth consecutive year and was also ranked No. 2 on balance beam, No. 3 in the all-around, No. 4 on floor exercise and No. 11 on vault in 2020. She earned the maximum five regular season All-America honors to bring her total to a new school record of 24. Ross went unbeaten in the all-around in 2020, winning all eight meets in which she competed all four events. In total, she earned 34 first-place finishes out of a possible 45 and hit all 37 routines during the season. She averaged over 9.9 on every event (9.908 on vault, 9.960 on bars, 9.923 on beam and 9.928 on floor) and 39.713 in the all-around. She scored two perfect 10s on uneven bars and one on vault, along with 10 9.975s.
Ross is also a finalist for the AAI Award for the nation's top senior gymnast and the AAU James E. Sullivan Award for the nation's top amateur athlete.
A standout off the floor as well, Ross is a two-time Pac-12 All-Academic honoree and a Director's Honor Roll recipient while studying Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology.
Ross is nominated along with Oklahoma's Maggie Nichols, Minnesota's Lexy Ramler and Florida's Trinity Thomas.
The Honda Sport Award has been presented annually by the Collegiate Women Sports Award (CWSA) for the past 44 years to the top women athletes in 12 NCAA- sanctioned sports and signifies "the best of the best in collegiate athletics".
The gymnastics finalists were selected by a panel of coaches and experts from the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA), however, given the unprecedented cancellation of championships the panel relied mostly on cumulative rankings and scoring. The Honda Sport award winner for Gymnastics will be announced next week after voting by administrators from over 1,000 NCAA member schools. Each NCAA member institution has a vote.
Players Mentioned
