FORT WORTH, Texas — LSU senior Haleigh Bryant has been named the 2024 AAI Award Winner, recognizing her as the top senior gymnast in the nation.
The annual award and is voted on by NCAA women's gymnastics head coaches throughout the nation. The award is often likened to the Heisman Trophy for women’s gymnastics and has become a symbol of excellence in the sport.
Bryant was voted this year’s winner over the remaining five finalists: Luisa Blanco (Alabama), Audrey Davis (Oklahoma), Maile O’Keefe (Utah), Gabby Wilson (Michigan) and Raena Worley (Kentucky).
The senior from Cornelius, North Carolina, is the fourth AAI Award winner in LSU program history and joins an elite group of past honorees that includes Sarah Finnegan (2019), Ashleigh Gnat (2017) and Susan Jackson (2010). LSU has the most AAI winners since 2010 and the most in the Southeastern Conference.
LSU now shares the top spot for most AAI winners in school history with Michigan, UCLA and Utah. Minnesota, Alabama, Georgia and Oregon State all have three.
“Haleigh’s win just validates what we already know," LSU coach Jay Clark said here Wednesday as the Tigers practiced for their NCAA championship semifinal Thursday at Dickies Arena. "The award is for the best senior in the country, and that’s what she is. Her career has been unbelievable. Haleigh is as deserving as anyone I’ve ever seen of this award.”
Bryant enters the NCAA Championships with 31 titles this season: nine on vault, seven on bars, two on beam, four on floor and nine in the all-around. She has 91 career individual titles, sixth-most in LSU history.
Bryant was previously named the SEC Gymnast of the Year for the first time in her career last month, becoming only the sixth gymnast in LSU history to earn the award. She won the SEC all-around and vault titles in March at the Smoothie King Center.
The first LSU gymnast to achieve both a career "gym slam" (perfect 10 on every event) and season slam (a perfect 10 on every event in a single season), Bryant has eight 10.0 scores this season and 18 in her career. It's the most by any gymnast in LSU history and the ninth-most in NCAA history.
Bryant was only the 14th gymnast in the NCAA to record a career gym slam and the 10th gymnast in NCAA history to achieve a season slam.
She entered NCAA competition as the No. 1 all-arounder in the nation for 10 out of 12 weeks during the regular season, finishing with an NQS of 39.810 and the highest all-around score in the nation and in school history (39.925).
Her performance throughout the regular season earned her five first-team All-America honors in 2024, moving her career total to 22 (14 regular season, eight NCAA), which is second only to Sarah Finnegan and Rheagan Courville in program history with 23.