No. 1 Baylor A&T’s McDonald Earns NCATA Freshman of the Week

[Allen, Madelon]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – Feb. 19, 2025
No. 1 A&T’s McDonald Earns NCATA Freshman of the Week
Bears earn first honor of the season
For more information contact: Madelon Allen; 254-252-7168, madelon_allen at baylor.edu<mailto:madelon_allen at baylor.edu>
Photo attached: Leavy McDonald (#40) and Jordan Gruendler (#38) perform a one-handed reverse planche // Photo Credit: Baylor Athletics
WACO, Texas – Leavy McDonald has earned her first weekly honor from the National Collegiate Acrobatics & Tumbling Association (NCATA), named Freshman of the Week by the organization on Wednesday.

Jordan Gruendler was also named Honorable Mention Athlete of the Week while Payton Washington was named Honorable Mention Specialist of the Week.

McDonald, a redshirt freshman base from San Antonio, earns the award after posting scores of 9.9 or above in all four heats she based in the win against No. 14 LIU. She is the only freshman base for the Bears outside of Team Event.

She bases in Compulsory Tumbling with senior Jordan Gruendler as the top, which earned a 9.90/10 against the Sharks.

McDonald is the base for Gruendler in heat three of Acro, the 7 Element heat, scoring 9.90 out of 10. In that heat, Gruendler competes a one-handed handstand before competing a handstand to reverse planche or “arch”; she moves into the arch while McDonald slides to splits before rotating to straddle.

The third heat McDonald competes is Pyramid heat one, the Inversion heat, where she is the mid-level base atop Morgan Brown and Bailey Baughn with top Gruendler. She and Gruendler perform a one-handed handstand, which scored a 9.95/10 against LIU.

McDonald is the mid-level base in the third heat of Pyramid, the Open heat, again with Gruendler as the top with Brown and Morgan Polk as the main bases. Scoring a 9.95 out of 10, Gruendler performs the reverse arch.

In the Team Event, McDonald is responsible for seven of the 30 required acro skills, all of them with a start value of 9.8 or above, with four of them having a start value of 10. There is one sequence where she and Gruendler compete both hand-to-foot and hand-to-hand elements, including Gruendler competing the reverse arch before removing a hand for a one-handed reverse arch – they are the only pair in the country to compete this skill. She also competes pyramids within the team event.

This is McDonald’s first career weekly honor from the NCATA after being named Honorable Mention Freshman of the Week on February 12 after the meet at No. 5 UMHB. Washington was named Honorable Mention Athlete and Gruendler was Honorable Mention Specialist that week as well.

NEXT UP
The Bears will travel to Oregon for a meet with the No. 4 Ducks on February 22 in Eugene with a start time of 6 p.m. CT at Matthew Knight Arena.

To stay up to date all year long on all things Baylor acrobatics & tumbling, follow the team on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram: @BaylorAcroTumb.

- BaylorBears.com -


__________________________________

Madelon Allen | Associate Director of Athletics Communications
A&T, EQ, VB, BaylorBears.com
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 254-252-7168

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