St. Edward’s Madden wins WWS all-around

St. Edward senior gymnast Abby Madden had a welcome visitor Saturday at the Illinois Best Gymnastics Meet at Wheaton Warrenville South.

Madden’s older sister Jordyn, who graduated St. Edward last year, is home for her holiday break from Indiana University, was in attendance to cheer and encourage her sister on.

Give both the Maddens an “A” for the day.

Using the encouragement from Jordyn as well as her own talents, Abby Madden won the all-around competition for the second straight week, scoring a 37.4.

“Jordyn was kind of like my coach today,” said Abby Madden. “It was neat. It was fun having her there. I’m so close to Jordyn. It’s been so weird this year not competing with her. We would always encourage each other to do good. It’s just weird being by myself.”

Being that Madden was the only gymnast for the Green Wave, she opted to compete for the all-around championship instead of any individual events. She scored 9.3 on the bars, 8.95 on the beam, 9.75 on the vault and 9.4 on the floor.

“I started on the bars and was a little nervous but did OK, then I went to the vault. I’m doing a new layout on the vault and I got a 9.75 so I was really happy about that. The vault was crazy. I’ve never seen that score before,” said Madden, who will study medicine next year at the University of Iowa and possibly compete for the club gymnastics team.

“I had a couple stumbles on the beam and then on the floor I just tried to show it off.”

Madden is more than pleased with the way her senior season is going. It continues next Friday at the Oswego Invite.

“I’ve been pretty consistent so far,” she said. “I hope it continues.”