SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Gustavus gymnastics team was represented by Amanda Malo (Jr., Greenwood, Minn.) in the all-around competition Friday evening during day one of the NCGA Championships at Springfield College. Malo compiled a total score of 37.475 to place sixth and earn All-American status.
Making her first appearance at the national meet, Malo was led by a career-best performance on the floor exercise, scoring a 9.750, tying the sixth best score in Gustavus program history.
Malo also scored 9.500 on the vault, 9.425 on bars, and 8.800 on beam en route to her all-around score of 37.475 – her second highest career total.
“Amanda had an incredible day,” said Head Coach Aryn DeGrood. “Vault was one of her best of the season. Bars was solid as usual. Minus a fall, the rest of her beam routine was really great. It doesn’t get much better than that.”
“Her goal going into the season was to qualify to nationals. To come away with a 6th place finish and earning All-American is a huge accomplishment. She is continuing the strong history of Gustavus all arounders and has now written herself into the history books. I could not be more proud seeing her on that podium. She worked hard all year for this, and showed that hard work truly pays off,” said DeGrood.
Tomorrow, Sam Ardy (Jr., Thousand Oaks, Calif.) will compete on uneven bars in the individual event championships, beginning at 4 p.m. eastern time.