Maggie Nichols Becomes First Sooner to Capture AAI Award
Add one more accolade to Maggie Nichols' illustrious resume.
On Monday, she took home the AAI Award, presented annually by American Athletic, Inc., to the nation's top senior gymnast and regarded as the Heisman Trophy of gymnastics. Though she was Oklahoma's ninth consecutive finalist for the award dating back to 2012, she's the first Sooner to win it.
Arguably the most decorated athlete in school history, Nichols led Oklahoma to two national titles in 2017 and 2019. The Sooners appeared to be well on their way to another championship in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly shuttered all athletic competition.
Individually, Nichols would have had a chance to claim a third consecutive all-around title in the 2020 postseason, and a title on beam would have made her just the second gymnast in history to claim national championships in all four events and the all-around.
Nichols' accomplishments are utterly tedious to enumerate, as she's thoroughly dominated the landscape of collegiate gymnastics ever since she set foot in Norman as a freshman. She's claimed six national titles in individual events, racked up 22 perfect 10's, and won 148 total events. She's the only gymnast in history with multiple all-around scores north of 39.900. She's also pulled off a historic "Gym Slam" (perfect scores on every event in the same season) not once, but twice.
The AAI Award is presented based on the votes of college coaches. Nichols took the honors over fellow finalists Kennedi Edney of LSU, Taylor Houchin of Nebraska, Maddie Karr of Denver, Mollie Korth of Kentucky, and Kyla Ross of UCLA.
To get the latest OU posts as they happen, join the SI Sooners Community by clicking “Follow” at the top right corner of the page (mobile users can click the notifications bell icon), and follow SI Sooners on Twitter @All_Sooners.