FORT WORTH, Texas – Jade Carey has been named the 2025 AAI Award Winner, it was announced on Tuesday. Started in 1982, the AAI Award recognizes the top senior female gymnast in the nation for her “dedication, leadership, and excellence in the sport,” and is often likened to the Heisman Trophy for women’s gymnastics.
Named a finalist on March 19, she was voted as this year’s winner over Jordan Bowers (Oklahoma), Audrey Davis (Oklahoma), Aleah Finnegan (LSU), Grace McCallum (Utah) and Leanne Wong (Florida).
The word ‘dominant’ doesn’t begin to capture what Carey accomplished as a senior, who joins Mary Ayotte-Law (1982), Joy Selig (1991) and Chari Knight (1994) as the only Beavers to win the award.
Across 13 appearances, she has 51 event titles, winning the all-around and beam in every single appearance – including postseason competition – and was the first gymnast in Pac-12 history to win both the beam and all-around titles in every single regular season appearance, also finishing the year with eight all-around scores of 39.700 or higher.
She tied for the fourth-highest all-around score in NCAA history on March 15 against Air Force, recording a 39.925 thanks to a pair of 10s on floor and beam to go with her 9.975 bars score and 9.950 on vault.
That success continued into the postseason, as she earned another perfect floor score in the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional Semifinal on April 4, finishing with a 39.850 in the all-around to qualify for the NCAA Championships this week, adding Region Championships on all five events in the process. Including the postseason, Carey currently holds the program record for career event titles (168), perfect 10s (16) and has accounted for 26 of the 27 all-around scores of 39.700 or higher in program history.
A two-time Pac-12 Gymnast of the Year, she also won Pac-12 Championships on floor (2023 and 2024), bars (2024), beam (2023) and in the all-around (2022 and 2023). In 2022, she finished fourth in the all-around at the NCAA Championships, along with a second-place finish on bars, while 2023 culminated in another silver medal, this time on bars. Last year in 2024, Carey posted a 39.700 in the all-around to earn yet another silver medal on the biggest stage, also placing second on floor and third on beam. The list of accomplishments extends out to the national level, where Carey has won three Olympic medals with Team USA, including a pair of golds. She also won two gold medals with Team USA at the World Championships in 2022 (all-around and vault), adding a bronze on floor while also earning a gold on vault and silver on beam at the 2022 Paris World Cup Challenge.
Outside of gymnastics, she is currently co-president of Women LEAD, a student-athlete club dedicated to empowering and uplifting female student athletes. In this role, she collaborated on and planned a sports symposium for young girls in the Corvallis community for National Girls and Women in Sports Day and has demonstrated a commitment towards building a strong community for females at OSU.
She is also in the top five percent of student athlete volunteers at OSU, often prioritizing time with local kids in the community through gymnastics camps and volunteering at local elementary schools.
Academically, Carey has exceled while studying at Oregon State. A Digital Communication Arts major, she has been on the Honor Roll seven times and has three different 4.0 terms. She was a WCGA All-American Scholar in 2022, member of the Pac-12 Honor Roll in 2023 and 2024 and also earned a spot on the College Sports Communicators’ Academic All-District team in 2024.
Competing as an individual, Carey will rotate with the LSU Tigers on Thursday. Coverage starts at 6 p.m. Pacific, airing live on ESPN2.
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