Gnat was born on November 13, 1994, in Altamonte Springs to parents Ray and Joan (née Moore) Gnat. Her father was an All-American gymnast for the now-defunct LSU men's gymnastics program,[2] and her mother was a 1972 Olympian.[3][4] She has three older siblings from her mother's first marriage to Bob Rice, a former Temple gymnast[5][6]—two brothers, Sean and Stephen, a film editor at Full Sail University,[7] and a sister, Jeana Rice-Helms (b. November 22, 1981), who competed for the University of Alabama and was the 2004 NCAA champion in women's gymnastics.[8][9][10]
She started gymnastics in 1997, shortly after her parents opened ACE Gymnastics, a facility in Longwood, Florida.[11][12]
Club career
2007–09
Gnat reached Level 9 in USA Gymnastics' Junior Olympic program at the age of 11 and finished eighth at the 2007 Eastern Championships, placing higher than the eventual 2012 Olympic all-around champion, Gabby Douglas.[13]
She moved up to Level 10 for the 2008 season, when she was 13. She placed second in the all-around at Regionals, in addition to taking the vault and bars titles,[14] and advanced to her first J.O. Nationals in Orlando, where she finished nineteenth in the all-around.[15]
A year later, Gnat was third in the all-around at States and won vault and floor.[16] At Regionals, she took home a gold medal on floor and silver medals in the all-around, on vault and on bars.[17] In mid-May, she participated in her second J.O. Nationals, finishing ninth in the all-around[18] and tying for third on floor with three other gymnasts.[19]
2010–13
Gnat qualified to the inaugural Nastia Liukin Cup in 2010[20] and finished 21st in the all-around.[21] Later in the year, she claimed both the State and Regional all-around titles,[22][23] before tying for seventh at her third J.O. Nationals.[24] In 2011, she defended her Regional title in the all-around,[25] but a disappointing performance at Nationals left her in fifteenth place.[26]
She qualified to her second Nastia Liukin Cup in 2012[27] and placed 22nd in the all-around.[28] Later, she was the Florida champion in the all-around and on three events.[29] She tied for second in the all-around at Regionals[30] and placed fifth at Nationals in May.[31]
Gnat's final club competitive season, in 2013, turned out to be her best. At the Lady Luck Invitational in Las Vegas, she scored a perfect 10 on vault, which secured her the ranking of No. 1 in the nation on that event.[32] She also earned her third Nastia Liukin Cup berth, a rare feat.[33] At the Cup, she tied for eighth in the all-around with 2012 winner Charity Jones.[34] She was the state champion in the all-around and on three events.[35] At Regionals, she swept all five titles, logging her highest ever all-around score of 39.000 and finishing the season with the fifth highest all-around ranking in the nation.[36][37]
At her fifth and final J.O. Nationals, Gnat was second in the all-around.[38] In addition, she was the vault champion[39] and joint floor champion with Kullen Hlawek.[40] As a result, she was named to the USA Gymnastics J.O. national team.[41]
College career
On January 9, 2012, Gnat verbally committed to the Louisiana State University women's gymnastics team.[42] She signed the National Letter of Intent on November 16, 2012.[43]
During her freshman season in 2014, she saw action on vault, beam and floor. At the SEC Championships, she contributed on vault and beam.[44]
