Gymnastics is a sport of tenths. A stuck landing, an upgraded skill and a couple of degrees in a split during a jump can make the difference between going home after regionals and competing for a national championship. For Arizona GymCat Malia Hargrove, becoming the first representative of the program to advance to the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships since 2016 was about all of those things.
It all started at Hargrove’s insistence. As a freshman, she was getting solid scores with a slightly easier opening tumbling pass on her floor routine. She thought she could do more, though.