Kyla Ross: Finalist for the AAU James E. Sullivan Award

The AAU James E. Sullivan Award is handed out annually to the nation’s best amateur athlete — and one of your UCLA Bruins has made the finalist list.

UCLA senior gymnast Kyla Ross has made headlines and has had her fair share of success at every level and that continues from this past season as she lands on the shortlist of finalists for the Sullivan Award. Ross is the first female gymnast to ever win Olympic, World and NCAA Championships.

Ross, and teammate Madison Kocian, made history when they debuted for the Bruins in 2016-17 season as the first women to win Olympic gold and then compete in NCAA Gymnastics.

Her highlights include 2012 Olympic gold medal, 2014 World Championship gold medal, 2019 floor and vault champion, and it goes on and on. Ross was the Pac-12 all-around, uneven bar and floor champion in 2019, repeating in the all-around and uneven bars from 2018 after winning the Pac-12 balance beam championship in 2017.

She is the NCAA record-holder for 14 perfect 10s during the 2019 season. This season, Ross is an AAI Award Finalist, 2019 NCAA West Region and Pac-12 Gymnast of the Year. She was unbeaten in the all-around in a shortened season, having finished 34 of her 45 events in first place.

Presented by Eastbay, the AAU James E. Sullivan Award is presented annually since 1930 and was won last season by Stanford volleyball player Kathryn Plummer.

You can vote for Ross by clicking through here: AAU Sullivan Award voting. Voting is open until March 30 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

Go, vote, vote, vote!

We take a look at her second straight perfect 10 on the uneven bars from earlier this year, thanks to UCLA Athletics on YouTube.