No. 1 Baylor A&T Earns Athlete, Specialist Weekly Awards from NCATA

[Allen, Madelon]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – March 5, 2025
No. 1 Baylor A&T Earns Athlete, Specialist Weekly Awards from NCATA
Bears earn two accolades in week five of competition
For more information contact: Madelon Allen; 254-252-7168, madelon_allen at baylor.edu<mailto:madelon_allen at baylor.edu>

WACO, Texas – Baylor Acrobatics & Tumbling has earned two weekly awards from the National Collegiate Acrobatics & Tumbling Association (NCATA), announced by the organization on Wednesday.

Payton Washington earned Athlete of the Week, Jordan Gruendler was named Specialist and Leavy McDonald was named Honorable Mention Freshman after competing against Missouri State on March 8 in Springfield, Mo.

This is Washington’s third Athlete of the Week award and Gruendler’s 10th for Specialist, fourth specifically for Acro.

A top and tumbler from Round Rock, Texas, Washington competed in nine heats and team event in the fifth week of competition. All heats she competed in scored a 9.45 or above and competes at least one heat in each event through the meet. Most notably, she earned a perfect 10/10 on her Open Tumbling pass, the first Bear to do that since the 2020 season. In the Team Event, she competes two standing tumbling passes with a start value of 9.8 and two synched running tumbling passes with a 9.55 SV. She also competes a toss (9.9 SV) and in one synched acro sequence.

The senior top from San Antonio topped the 5-Element and 7-Element Acro heats on the week, continuing to raise the bar by debuting new elements with her base, McDonald. In heat three, Gruendler competes a high stacked-hands handstand and then competes it on one-arm. After dismounting and returning to a handstand, she competed the “ring” while McDonald does a straight slide to split. They are the only athletes in the country to compete these skills. In heat one, she competes a high handstand to straddle.

NEXT UP
The Bears return to the Ferrell Center for a three-meet homestand, beginning with Iona on March 22 at 5 p.m.

To stay up to date all year long on all things Baylor acrobatics & tumbling, follow the team on Facebook, X, 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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