Ashleigh Marie Gnat (born November 13, 1994, in Altamonte Springs, Florida) is a former American collegiate gymnast and coach.
[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.
[11][12] 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.
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.
[19] Gnat qualified to the inaugural Nastia Liukin Cup in 2010[20] and finished 21st in the all-around.
[24] In 2011, she defended her Regional title in the all-around,[25] but a disappointing performance at Nationals left her in fifteenth place.
At the Lady Luck Invitational in Las Vegas, she scored a perfect 10 on vault, which secured her the ranking of No.
[41] On January 9, 2012, Gnat verbally committed to the Louisiana State University women's gymnastics team.