Two years of Clemson gymnastics. Two years with the best female athlete. Graduate Rebecca Wells has secured the title for the second year in a row and continues to prove why.
If you attended a Clemson gymnastics meet during its inaugural season, there are a lot of gymnasts who were hard to miss. The Clemson gymnastics team is captivating to watch, with multiple standout athletes, but Wells was arguably the face of the inaugural team, and rightfully so.
Wells competed as an all-around gymnast in all thirteen meets of the inaugural season, where she won seven of those event titles throughout the year. She scored a 39.500 twice in the event and recorded a career-high on beam in her first season with the Tigers.
Redshirting her 2023 season, Wells came ready to compete for Team One and did not disappoint. She was the first gymnast to ever compete for the Tigers and was named to the ACC Preseason Watch List. During her senior year, she recorded her career best of 9.950 on beam and was an AAI Award Nominee, an award that recognizes the best senior gymnast in the nation. Clemson gymnastics and Wells took the ACC by storm, making it to the ACC Championship meet, where Wells was also named to the All-ACC Championship team for vault, floor and all-around.
Before joining the inaugural team, Wells had an impressive career at Utah State, where she was named first-team All-Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference in all-around and vault and helped lead her team to their first conference championship in 17 years. As a junior, she set the school record for the best all-around score at the NCAA Regional Championships meet, scoring 39.350 in the Norman Regional.
Besides her remarkable athletic resume, Wells graduated from Clemson with a Bachelor’s degree in communication and will graduate in August with her Master’s in athletic leadership. She was named to the ACC All-Academic Team and the College Sports Communicator Academic All-District Team.
Wells believed that coming back was important for getting out the nerves, especially with the program being new.
“I think that just getting all the jitters out with last year being our first year, having the opportunity to come back and capitalize on the things that I wanted to improve was something I was excited about,” Wells told The Tiger in an interview.
This season, Wells competes in a strong uneven bars routine and remains one of the faces of Team Two.
The young team has had six sold-out meets in its two seasons, and the Clemson community continues to show up week after week to support this team. Wells touched on what this support has meant to her and the team.
“It’s everything to me,” Wells said. “The fans at Clemson and everyone who supports our program are incredible, and I have never experienced anything like this before.”
Clemson gymnastics continues to have one of the best atmospheres in collegiate gymnastics, with thousands of people coming out every week to watch the Tigers compete. Wells will be honored at Senior Night when Clemson will host Penn State to close its regular season.
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