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<b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#242424">BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – March 5, 2025<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="color:#242424"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><b><span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:#242424">No. 1 Baylor A&T Earns Athlete, Specialist Weekly Awards from NCATA<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><b><i><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black">Bears earn two accolades in week five of competition</span></i></b><b><i><span style="font-size:10.5pt"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><b><i><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:#242424"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#242424">For more information contact:
</span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#242424">Madelon Allen; 254-252-7168,
</span><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:blue"><a href="mailto:madelon_allen@baylor.edu">madelon_allen@baylor.edu</a></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#242424">
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="color:#242424"> </span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#242424"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:#242424">WACO, Texas – </span></b><span style="color:#242424">Baylor Acrobatics & Tumbling has earned two weekly awards from the National Collegiate Acrobatics & Tumbling Association (NCATA), announced by the organization
on Wednesday. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#242424"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#242424">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#242424"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#242424">This is Washington’s third Athlete of the Week award and Gruendler’s 10<sup>th</sup> for Specialist, fourth specifically for Acro.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#242424"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#242424">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.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#242424"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#242424">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#242424"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:#242424">NEXT UP</span></b><b><span style="color:#242424"><br>
</span></b><span style="color:#242424">The Bears return to the Ferrell Center for a three-meet homestand, beginning with Iona on March 22 at 5 p.m.<br>
<br>
To stay up to date all year long on all things Baylor acrobatics & tumbling, follow the team on Facebook, X, TikTok and Instagram: @BaylorAcroTumb.<br>
<br>
</span><b><span style="color:#242424"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><i><span style="color:#242424">- BaylorBears.com -</span></i><span style="color:#242424"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">__________________________________</span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:6.5pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"> </span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#385623;mso-ligatures:none">Madelon Allen</span></b><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#385623;mso-ligatures:none"> </span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">| </span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">Associate
Director of Athletics Communications <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">A&T, EQ, VB, BaylorBears.com</span><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">Department of Athletics | Baylor University<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">C: 254-252-7168<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none"><img border="0" width="159" height="44" style="width:1.6562in;height:.4583in" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.png@01DB9361.0B8025A0" alt="signature_517787777"></span><o:p></o:p></p>
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