Michelle Shealy tied for fifth in the balance beam final on Sunday, the highest finish ever by a Cyclone at the NCAA Championships. 

Before the individual event finals, Shealy performed in the all-around competition at a semifinal meet on Friday. She scored 39.05 and finished in 13th place.

Shealy scored a season-high 9.825 on floor exercise at the semifinal meet. She also scored 9.550 on vault and 9.775 on the uneven bars.

Shealy tied a career-high 9.900 on her balance beam routine and came in second place in that event at the semifinal meet. To qualify for the beam final, Shealy had to place in the top four of her semifinal including ties.

For the semifinal meet, Shealy added a new skill to her beam routine to make it more difficult. She added a Gaynor — a backwards flip in the act of moving forward — in hopes of increasing her score enough to qualify for beam finals.

At the event final, Shealy scored 9.8375 on her beam routine, finishing tied for fifth out of nine qualifiers. Florida’s Bridget Sloan won the beam title with a score of 9.900.

Shealy earned All-America honors by qualifying for an individual event final. She is the ISU gymnastics team’s first All-American since 2007 and sixth all time.