Pac-12 announces 2022 Women's Gymnastics Awards

SALT LAKE CITY - Ahead of Saturday’s Pac-12 Championships, the league’s head coaches selected the 2022 Pac-12 Women’s Gymnastics yearly award recipients.

Gymnast & Freshman of the Year: Jade Carey, Fr., Oregon State (Phoenix, Ariz.)

In her first season with Oregon State, Carey helped lead the Beavers to a share of the Pac-12 regular-season championship for the first time in program history. In ten weeks, Carey claimed nine Pac-12 weekly awards, including three Gymnast of the Week and six Freshman of the Week honors. In total, she garnered 41 individual titles - nine all-around titles, eight vault titles, nine titles on bar and eight titles on floor. Carey anchored Oregon State in all 36 lineups this season and scored 9.9s in 34 routines, including three Perfect 10s (1 UB, 2 FX). In the process, she shattered the Oregon State all-around record this season against UCLA (Jan. 23) before breaking her own record with a 39.825 twice. Heading into the Pac-12 Championships, the Olympic gold medalist leads the nation in the all-around and shares the one-spot on bars. Carey is also tied for third on floor, fifth on vault and 11th on beam. She leads the conference in every event except for beam, where she is third with a 9.930 NQS.

Specialist of the Year: Maile O'Keefe, Jr., Utah (Las Vegas, Nev.)

The 2021 Gymnast of the Year, O'Keefe led the conference on beam this year and ended the regular season ranked fourth in the nation with a national qualifying score of 9.965 to go along with two Perfect 10s. She has scored a 9.875 or better on bars in eight of 10 routines this season and earned the first 10.0 of her career on bars this year. She scored Perfect 10s on bars and beam in the same meet to become the first Red Rock to score two 10s in the same meet since 1999, and just the fourth all-time. O'Keefe has hit 29-of-29 routines this season and leads Utah with 113-of-113 hit routines in her career. She averages above a 9.880 on all three events (bars, beam, floor) that she has competed in this season, and has earned eight individual event titles, which ranks second on the team. O'Keefe has posted a 9.925-plus on beam in eight of 10 competitions this season and has scored above a 9.875 or better in 22-of-29 routines, while also recording a 9.925-plus in 13-of-29 routines. Throughout the year, she claimed two Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week honors and also added a Specialist of the Week honor to her season accolades.

Coach of the Year: Tanya Chaplin, Oregon State

Oregon State head coach Tanya Chaplin led the Beavers to a 10-3 overall and 5-2 conference record in 2022, finishing the regular season with the No. 12 ranking in the nation. As a team, the Beavers claimed their first share of the Pac-12 regular-season title in program history. Over the course of the season, the Beavers posted five team scores of 197, the most in a single season since season since 2005. Oregon State currently ranks in the top four in all five events in the Pac-12 and is in the top-25 nationally. This year’s award is Chaplin's fifth career honor. The Beavers are set to compete in the NCAA postseason for the 28th time in program history.