WACO, Texas—The top–ranked Baylor Acrobatics & Tumbling team earned two weekly awards from the National Collegiate Acrobatics & Tumbling Association (NCATA), the organization announced on Wednesday.
With the announcement, the Bears have earned an award, honorable mention or outright, in all eight weeks of competition thus far.
After defeating No. 10 St. Leo on Saturday, Leavy McDonald was named Freshman of the Week for the sixth time, while sophomore Payton Washington was named Athlete of the Week for the fifth time.
A redshirt freshman from San Antonio, McDonald is a base in six different heats as well as Team Event. As the base in Acro H3, McDonald and Jordan Gruendler compete a stacked-hands handstand before competing it one-handed, then another handstand and then one-handed, earning a 9.85/10 - they are the only duo in the country to compete this sequence and the only duo to compete with stacked hands. In heat one, she competes with two different tops, competing both hand-to-hand and hand-to-foot connections, earning a 9.95/10. She competes in all three Pyramid heats with two different tops throughout as a mid-level base, not scoring below a 9.8 on any of the heats, all with an SV of 10, including a 10/10 in heat 3. In heat one Pyramid, they compete a one-handed handstand; heat 2 is a high press, and heat 3 is a handstand. In the team event, she competes seven of the 30 required acro elements, five of which have an SV of 10, and is the mid-level base for a synched pyramid with an SV of 10.
Washington, a top and tumbler from Round Rock, Texas, Payton competes in nine total heats for BU, seven of which are synchronized. She competes in at least one heat per event for the Bears. Against Saint Leo, she had scores of 9.15 or higher in all heats, with all but one scoring a 9.4 or higher. During the Team Event, she competes two standing tumbling passes with start values at 9.8, along with two synched running tumbling passes with SVs of 9.55. Along with that, she competes a toss with a 9.9 SV and a synchronized acro sequence. Her Toss in heat 1 was a kick-double.
NEXT UP
The Bears return to the Ferrell Center for the final time in the regular season, hosting No. 2 Oregon on Saturday for a 5 p.m. meet.
To stay up to date all year long on all things Baylor acrobatics & tumbling, follow the team on Facebook, X, TikTok and Instagram: @BaylorAcroTumb.
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