FILIPINO-AMERICAN gymnast Aleah Finnegan is one of 19 nominees for 2025 AAI (American Athletic, Inc.) Award.
The AAI Award is an annual award in the United States, given to the most outstanding senior collegiate female gymnast in the country.
The 22-year-old Finnegan, a senior student athlete at Louisiana State University, was nominated with Oklahoma’s Jordan Bowers and Audrey Davis, Oregon State’s Jade Carey, Florida’s Leanne Wong and Utah’s Grace McCallum.
The final votes will be conducted by NCAA women’s gymnastics head coaches throughout the nation to decide the winner of this year’s award.
The awards will be presented at the US NCAA Championships Banquet in Fort Worth, Texas.
LSU now has four AAI awardees in school history, the most by any school since 2010.
Among them is Haleigh Bryant, who claimed last year’s award.
The other past honorees from LSU include Sarah Finnegan (2019), Ashleigh Gnat (2017) and Susan Jackson (2010).
Finnegan, who represented the Philippines at the Paris Olympics, has had a successful stint with the LSU gymnastics’ program over the last four years.
She has been a national champion, floor champion and Olympian with LSU, according to the records.
The 5’4” Finnegan is cited for helping the Tigers clinch their first-ever national championship in 2024 in the beam. She was also named the 2024 NCAA Floor Champion, her first individual title on top of the team title.
Set to see action for the Philippines in the coming Southeast Asian Games, Finnegan also claimed last year’s floor title with her score of 9.9625 in the NCAA semifinals.
She was the fourth gymnast in LSU history to win a floor championship.
Finnegan’s floor 9.975 score in the semifinals equalled the highest recorded by an LSU Gymnast at championships.
Finnegan is one of the top floor performers in the country all year long in 2024, after snaring two All-America honors in the event in both the regular and postseason and three perfect scores in the event.