UCLA nominates Madison Kocian for NCAA Woman of the Year

The UCLA Bruins have nominated gymnast Madison Kocian for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award. Established in 1991, the award recognizes graduating female student-athletes who have exhausted eligibility but distinguished themselves both in academics and athletics as well as service and leadership in their collegiate careers.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Kocian is UCLA’s honoree as she took home the Pac-12 Gymnastics Scholar-Athlete of the Year, UCLA’s Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year as well as the Pac-12’s Tom Hansen Medal.

Her impressive routines were only tied with her impressive record in the classroom as well. She graduated this spring with a 3.850 GPA and was a second-team Academic All-American. She received the UCLA’s AD Academic Excellence Award and finished on the Director’s Honor Roll in every single quarter she was at UCLA.

She became the first ever gymnast to win gold at the Olympics and then go on to compete in collegiate gymnastics after she won team gold and silver on the uneven bars during the 2016 Olympic Games.

So, where does Kocian go from here?

The conference offices will select up to two nominees from their pool of 12 university schools in the Pac-12 and the Woman of the Year selection committee will take over. That committee is made up of representatives from the NCAA membership and they’ll select the top 30 honorees. It goes then down to a top nine before the committee ultimately votes the winner that will be announced this fall.

Either way, another well-deserved honor for Madison Kocian, a true, all-time UCLA great.