Gardiner, McMillan Named AAI Award Finalists

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State seniors Madeline Gardiner and Kaytianna McMillan have been named as two of seven finalists for the AAI Award, announced by American Athletic, Inc. Thursday.

The AAI Award annually recognizes the most outstanding senior female gymnast in the nation and is determined by a vote of the sports' head coaches.

The field, which has been reduced to seven finalists, includes Nicole Artz from Michigan, Chayse Capps from Oklahoma, Ashleigh Gnat from LSU, Peng Peng Lee from UCLA and Baely Rowe from Utah.

All seven finalists will be recognized and the winner will be announced at the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships banquet in April.

Gardiner, an exercise and sport science major from Cambridge, Ontario, is currently ranked tied for eighth in the nation on the balance beam. The four-time All-American has performed in the all-around eight times for the Beavers in 2017 and has 'hit' all 40 of her routines this season. She was recently named the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year and earned Pac-12 All-Conference first team on the beam and second team in the all-around. Gardiner has collected 40 event titles in her career ranking seventh in Oregon State history.

McMillan, who hails from Coburg, Ore. and studies human development and family sciences, ranks No. 9 in the country in the all-around. An All-American in 2016, McMillan has performed in the all-around in every meet for the Beavers for the first time in her career and has 'hit' 43 out of 44 routines. The 2017 Pac-12 Gymnast of the Year earned Pac-12 All-Conference first team honors in the all-around and on the floor exercise and second team on the vault. She recently performed the first 10.0 routine for an OSU gymnast since 2008 and the first on the uneven bars since 2003. A two-time Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week recipient this season, McMillan is one of just nine gymnasts in Oregon State program history to post scores of 9.90 or better on all four events and has actually accomplished the feat in 2017 alone.

Gardiner and McMillan will lead the Beavers next weekend when they travel to the NCAA Champaign Regional Championships hosted by Illinois, April 1 at 2 p.m. PT.

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Players Mentioned

Madeline Gardiner

Kaytianna McMillan

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