UCLA Gymnastics: Madison Kocian named Scholar-Athlete of the Year

The Pac-12 announced on Thursday that UCLA gymnast Madison Kocian was selected as the Pac-12 Gymnastic Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Kocian, who is currently a psychology major, holds a whopping 3.842 cumulative GPA and is also a three-time Scholastic All-American already.

This honor adds to her already illustrious career as she’s one of two women in gymnastics history to earn NCAA, World and Olympic championships.

Lest we forget, in 2016, Kocian was a member of the U.S. Olympic team who won gold in the team performance while she also won a silver medal on the uneven bars. She also holds three World Championship gold medals, two for team events and another on the uneven bars again.

Her UCLA records also include a pair of 10s on the uneven bars and she has career-highs of 39.625 in the all-around events, 9.95 on the balance beam, 9.95 on the floor exercise, a 9.875 on the vault and those 10s on the uneven bars.

Kocian becomes just the second UCLA Bruin to win the Pac-12 Gymnastics Scholar-Athlete of the Year, joining Christine Peng-Peng Lee who was selected in 2018.

Kocian is a two-time member of the UCLA All-Academic Team, has been named to the UCLA AD Honor Roll every quarter and was named to the Pac-12 All-Academic First-Team in 2019. She’s made history in her own right with her academics after she became the first Olympic gold medalist to ever compete in NCAA Women’s Gymnastics.

It’s just another honor for an overall terrific season from the UCLA women’s gymnastic team after they made history in 2019-20:

From the Pac-12 release:

In order to be eligible for the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, student-athletes must be a senior (in athletics eligibility) on track to receive a degree, have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher, participate in at least 50% of the scheduled contests in the sport and have a minimum of one year in residence at the institution. Each Pac-12 institution may nominate one individual per sport, and the winners are selected by a committee of Pac-12 staff members at the conclusion of each sport’s regular season. The athletic accomplishments of the nominees are a consideration in the voting for the award.

Congratulations, Madison! Well-earned and well-deserved.

And, since we’re all void of sports in our life, let’s take a look at some career highlights of Kocian and her time at UCLA, thanks to the UCLA Athletics YouTube channel: