SHE’S UNSTOPPABLE
3/27/2026 9:22:00 AM | Acrobatics & Tumbling, My Baylor Story
Two-time NCATA All-American Washington Has Lofty Goals On and Off the Mat
If Payton Washington says she's going to work in the White House one day, I wouldn't bet against it.
A victim of gun violence herself three years ago, the junior top/tumbler from Baylor's top-ranked Acrobatics & Tumbling team wants to bring back the Office of Gun Violence Prevention and possibly start a non-profit organization for survivors of gun violence.
"There are a lot of boxes that I want to do," said Washington, a marketing major who has an internship this summer with Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals of Waco. "But I know, whatever I do, I'm going to go at it 120%."
Whether it's on the acrobatics mat or in life, "she is looking for the next thing to conquer," Baylor coach Felecia Mulkey said of Washington, the 2024 NCATA Freshman of the Year and 2025 NCATA Athlete of the Year.
"Payton is constantly working to improve," Mulkey said. "She has had so much success, you would think she would relax and coast. There is no coasting with this one. Once she masters something, she is looking for the next thing to conquer. She is and always will be unstoppable."
That includes being shot twice in the leg and once in the back in a tragic April 18, 2023, incident in Elgin when she was returning from a cheer practice in Houston. With injuries that required her spleen to be replaced, several other surgeries and 32 staples in her stomach, Payton was initially told that she would be in the hospital for three months.
She was out in one week, "a very long week."
Still on a ventilator, with a plastic wrap around her stomach, Payton's first thoughts when she woke up the next day was, "There is no way I'm ever going to do a flip again. No way." But after 48 hours, following a second surgery, she was able to walk.
"It hurt, but I could tell, this was not going to be the end," she said. "I was like, 'If I can do these 30 steps when they tell me to, imagine where I can be in a month. Imagine where I could be in six months.' So, after that, I knew I was going to be back."
Before the Baylor A&T team left for that year's NCATA Championships, Payton got a hospital visit from Mulkey and assistant coaches Kelsey Rowell and Courtney Oates, where they told her they were honoring the scholarship, no matter what.
"That meant the world to me, because I didn't really know what it looked like to be a college athlete yet," said Washington, who also did softball, gymnastics, dance and track and field growing up. "I thought, 'This is a transaction. And if I'm not able to fulfill my part of the transaction, they're not going to want me anymore.' I just remember I wrote on the white board, 'I'm sorry,' and we all started balling."
Five months later, Payton was at Baylor and going through her first practices with the A&T team. And while her first college classes were stressful, she felt "very well prepared, surprisingly," for the workouts.
"I thought I was going to be coming in at a disadvantage because of what happened to me," she said. "But the way Coach Fee does it, we start from the very basics, the beginning. So, it wasn't like I was missing all this time because I haven't been flipping. I got to progress how I needed to through my injuries and the sport. And everything worked out beautifully."
Not even sure if she would compete as a freshman, Payton was a five-time Freshman of the Week, was named an NCATA All-American and Freshman of the Year and was part of the Bears' ninth-consecutive national championship in 2024.
"I remember having this conversation with my mom. After winning Freshman of the Year, I was like, 'What do I go for now? I don't know what the next thing is. I've already reached what I wanted to do,''' Payton said. "That's when I started making new goals of getting a 10 and Athlete of the Year and all those things.
"It made me want to keep going for more, so I'm never stopping at one award or one accolade. I'm going for it all."
Although she was part of Cheer and Track teams at Round Rock Stony Point High School, even setting a school record in the pole vault, it was "basically individual."
"I was on a team, but I was kind of just doing it for myself," Payton said. "It was an amazing and refreshing experience to be a part of this team and see how it develops. It's beautiful, actually, to see how it develops from the start of the year to the end of the year. And I don't understand how she does it, but Coach Fee can get 50 girls to be best friends when it comes to this sport."
In the vein of "going for more," Payton was part of four perfect 10 scores last year, averaged 9.918 in the open tumbling pass, earned NCATA All-American and Athlete of the Year honors and was part of the 10th-consecutive national championship team.
At this point, she said, Payton's motivation is to "grow the sport," which was officially sanctioned as a championship sport by the NCAA this January, with the first NCAA championship scheduled during her senior year in 2027.
"Not just me getting a 10 or just competing," she said, "but I see that me being on this team is having an impact on the world. If I can keep doing what I'm doing – being a voice for our sport, a voice for change, a voice for women athletes – then that's what I'm going to do."
While she has excelled on the mat, obviously, Payton has also seen her faith grow tremendously in her first three years at Baylor. In the week leading up to a matchup against second-ranked Oregon on Feb. 28, she was baptized in the Fudge Football Development Facility.
"I was always curious, and I knew I loved God, but I didn't know what a relationship with Him looked like," she said. "Realizing that you could have these conversations about God with your peers, with your teammates, with your coaches and just this whole community, you're allowed to figure out what you want to be in this life. And I was longing for this relationship with God. Honestly, I can't wait to see how my relationship with God grows stronger in the next year at Baylor and the rest of my life."
Checking one of those boxes, medical sales seems to be her career path "for now," but Payton can't imagine giving up sports after next year.
"I wish acro was in the Olympics, because I would so do it," she said. "Maybe I'll try out for flag football or something, you never know, because this has been such a big part of my entire life. I'm going to be in some sport atmosphere, in some way, shape or form. So, we'll see where I go."
Off to a 7-0 start, Baylor A&T will host Duquesne (2-2) in its final home meet of the season at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Ferrell Center.
A victim of gun violence herself three years ago, the junior top/tumbler from Baylor's top-ranked Acrobatics & Tumbling team wants to bring back the Office of Gun Violence Prevention and possibly start a non-profit organization for survivors of gun violence.
"There are a lot of boxes that I want to do," said Washington, a marketing major who has an internship this summer with Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals of Waco. "But I know, whatever I do, I'm going to go at it 120%."
Whether it's on the acrobatics mat or in life, "she is looking for the next thing to conquer," Baylor coach Felecia Mulkey said of Washington, the 2024 NCATA Freshman of the Year and 2025 NCATA Athlete of the Year.
"Payton is constantly working to improve," Mulkey said. "She has had so much success, you would think she would relax and coast. There is no coasting with this one. Once she masters something, she is looking for the next thing to conquer. She is and always will be unstoppable."
That includes being shot twice in the leg and once in the back in a tragic April 18, 2023, incident in Elgin when she was returning from a cheer practice in Houston. With injuries that required her spleen to be replaced, several other surgeries and 32 staples in her stomach, Payton was initially told that she would be in the hospital for three months.
She was out in one week, "a very long week."
Still on a ventilator, with a plastic wrap around her stomach, Payton's first thoughts when she woke up the next day was, "There is no way I'm ever going to do a flip again. No way." But after 48 hours, following a second surgery, she was able to walk.
"It hurt, but I could tell, this was not going to be the end," she said. "I was like, 'If I can do these 30 steps when they tell me to, imagine where I can be in a month. Imagine where I could be in six months.' So, after that, I knew I was going to be back."
Before the Baylor A&T team left for that year's NCATA Championships, Payton got a hospital visit from Mulkey and assistant coaches Kelsey Rowell and Courtney Oates, where they told her they were honoring the scholarship, no matter what.
"That meant the world to me, because I didn't really know what it looked like to be a college athlete yet," said Washington, who also did softball, gymnastics, dance and track and field growing up. "I thought, 'This is a transaction. And if I'm not able to fulfill my part of the transaction, they're not going to want me anymore.' I just remember I wrote on the white board, 'I'm sorry,' and we all started balling."
Five months later, Payton was at Baylor and going through her first practices with the A&T team. And while her first college classes were stressful, she felt "very well prepared, surprisingly," for the workouts.
"I thought I was going to be coming in at a disadvantage because of what happened to me," she said. "But the way Coach Fee does it, we start from the very basics, the beginning. So, it wasn't like I was missing all this time because I haven't been flipping. I got to progress how I needed to through my injuries and the sport. And everything worked out beautifully."
Not even sure if she would compete as a freshman, Payton was a five-time Freshman of the Week, was named an NCATA All-American and Freshman of the Year and was part of the Bears' ninth-consecutive national championship in 2024.
"I remember having this conversation with my mom. After winning Freshman of the Year, I was like, 'What do I go for now? I don't know what the next thing is. I've already reached what I wanted to do,''' Payton said. "That's when I started making new goals of getting a 10 and Athlete of the Year and all those things.
"It made me want to keep going for more, so I'm never stopping at one award or one accolade. I'm going for it all."
Although she was part of Cheer and Track teams at Round Rock Stony Point High School, even setting a school record in the pole vault, it was "basically individual."
"I was on a team, but I was kind of just doing it for myself," Payton said. "It was an amazing and refreshing experience to be a part of this team and see how it develops. It's beautiful, actually, to see how it develops from the start of the year to the end of the year. And I don't understand how she does it, but Coach Fee can get 50 girls to be best friends when it comes to this sport."
In the vein of "going for more," Payton was part of four perfect 10 scores last year, averaged 9.918 in the open tumbling pass, earned NCATA All-American and Athlete of the Year honors and was part of the 10th-consecutive national championship team.
At this point, she said, Payton's motivation is to "grow the sport," which was officially sanctioned as a championship sport by the NCAA this January, with the first NCAA championship scheduled during her senior year in 2027.
"Not just me getting a 10 or just competing," she said, "but I see that me being on this team is having an impact on the world. If I can keep doing what I'm doing – being a voice for our sport, a voice for change, a voice for women athletes – then that's what I'm going to do."
While she has excelled on the mat, obviously, Payton has also seen her faith grow tremendously in her first three years at Baylor. In the week leading up to a matchup against second-ranked Oregon on Feb. 28, she was baptized in the Fudge Football Development Facility.
"I was always curious, and I knew I loved God, but I didn't know what a relationship with Him looked like," she said. "Realizing that you could have these conversations about God with your peers, with your teammates, with your coaches and just this whole community, you're allowed to figure out what you want to be in this life. And I was longing for this relationship with God. Honestly, I can't wait to see how my relationship with God grows stronger in the next year at Baylor and the rest of my life."
Checking one of those boxes, medical sales seems to be her career path "for now," but Payton can't imagine giving up sports after next year.
"I wish acro was in the Olympics, because I would so do it," she said. "Maybe I'll try out for flag football or something, you never know, because this has been such a big part of my entire life. I'm going to be in some sport atmosphere, in some way, shape or form. So, we'll see where I go."
Off to a 7-0 start, Baylor A&T will host Duquesne (2-2) in its final home meet of the season at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Ferrell Center.
Players Mentioned
Top/Tumbler
/ Acrobatics & TumblingBaylor Acrobatics & Tumbling: My Baylor Story - Payton Washington
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