TEMPE, Ariz. – Cairo Leonard-Baker will participate in her second-straight NCAA National Championship this Friday in Fort Worth, Texas, representing Arizona State gymnastics on the uneven bars.
 
Leonard-Baker earned the individual bid by winning the Baton Rouge Regional bars title. She scored a 9.925 during the second round, beating all other gymnasts outright. On Friday, April 19, she will be in the second semifinal that starts at 7 p.m. EDT on ESPN2/ESPNU. She will rotate will No. 1 Oklahoma.
 
The sophomore has had a sensational season on bars. She was ranked in the top 15 in that event all season on Road to Nationals, earning regular season WCGA All-American Second Team honors on bars. In the Pac-12, she earned a first team nod on bars, improving from her second team bars honor last year. Leonard-Baker is the first Sun Devil to be named an All-American and All-Pac-12 player twice in a career since Ashley Kelly, who competed as ASU from 2003-06. Cairo is the first to earn both in back-to-back years since Elizabeth McNabb from 1998-99.
 
Leonard-Baker scored a 9.975 on bars at UCLA this year, this highest score by any ASU gymnast in any event since 2007. At the Pac-12 Gymnastics Championships, she tied for second in the conference with a 9.950. On the year, she has six bars titles and has scored a 9.900 or better in eight meets.
 
In the history of the Gym Devils, there are two NCAA individual champions on bars, most recently Jackie Brummer in 1984. The last individual champion in any event is Ashley Kelly on beam in 2004.
 
The NCAA National Championships will take place from April 19-20. Two semifinal sessions will be held on April 19, with the top two teams from those competitions advancing to the team final on April 20. All individual awards will be based on scores from Friday's meets. The two semifinals will be televised on ESPN2 or ESPNU at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. EDT. The finals will be on ESPNU at 7 p.m. EDT.