University of Minnesota Athletics
Players Mentioned
Gerdes, Hooten Named AAI Award Nominees
2/20/2024 12:52:00 PM | Gymnastics
The award goes to the top senior gymnast in the country
The AAI Award is widely considered the Heisman Trophy of women's gymnastics. AAI has been awarding this honor for over 30 years. NCAA head coaches were asked to submit a nomination for the candidate or candidates of their choice. After the initial nominations, the field is narrowed to the top six student-athletes.
A senior from Delaware, Ohio, Gianna has significantly improved every season and has competed in all-around for the past two years at Minnesota. The 2023 First Team All-Big Ten selection holds a career-best all-around score of 39.525. She's hit 9.900-or-higher on every event. Gerdes has been named Big Ten Gymnast of the Week once in her career and was named a Big Ten Gymnast to Watch leading up to the 2024 season.
In 2023, Gerdes earned Big Ten All-Championship Team honors alongside teammate Mya Hooten. As a freshman in 2021, she helped Minnesota win its first Big Ten title in 16 years.
In the classroom, she's been phenomenal, earning Academic All-Big Ten honors twice and being named a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar during the 2022-23 school year. Gerdes was honored as a WCGA Scholastic All-American in 2022-23 as well. Gerdes graduated in three years with her bachelor's degree in business and marketing education. She is now pursuing her master's degree in sports management.
Mya is one of the senior leaders of the University of Minnesota gymnastics program. When her career at the 'U' is done, she will be lauded as one of the program's all-time great gymnasts. In her first three years on campus, she was a WCGA First Team All-American on floor in 2021, 2022 and 2023. She earned First Team All-America honors on floor at the NCAA Championships in both 2021 and 2022. On vault, she's a two-time WCGA Second Team All-American (2022, 2023) and a two-time NCAA Championships Second Team All American (2021, 2022).
Hooten is a three-time All-Big Ten selection (two-time first team) and has won Big Ten Event Specialist of the Week nine times in her career. She was the first Minnesota gymnast ever to score a 10.000 on floor and now she has done so eight times in her career. She was also the Big Ten Floor Champion in 2022 and 2023 and Big Ten vault champion in 2023. Hooten was named to the All-Big Ten Championship team from 2021-23. As a rookie in 2021, she led Minnesota to its first Big Ten Championship in 16 years. She was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week three different times.
In the classroom, she's been an absolute standout as well, earning Academic All-Big Ten honors three times, Big Ten Distinguished Scholar once and was named a WCGA Academic All-American in 2023. She graduated in December with a degree in business and marketing education and is currently working on her master's in human resources and industrial relations.