The last time that Arkansas qualified a full team to the NCAA championships was in 2013—a year before Amanda Wellick joined the Razorbacks squad. Wellick qualified the following season as an individual in the all-around. She competed at nationals a second time as an individual in 2016 after Arkansas was edged by 0.050 in the Iowa City regional.

A year removed from a season-ending Achilles tear, Wellick is back in the all-around picture for Arkansas. She did not compete on floor until Feb. 23 against Florida but has competed on all four events in the last six meets with her best performance coming on March 2 against Arizona with a 39.425. Wellick has been solid and consistent on both vault and bars, where she has scored a 9.800 or better in 24 of 26 combined routines. 

Welcome back Amanda Wellick!

She scores a 9.850 on bars in her first event since last January! pic.twitter.com/CiEuRk7nDH

— Razorback Gymnastics (@RazorbackGym) January 6, 2018

Arkansas will face LSU, Nebraska, Alabama, Georgia, and UCLA on April 20 in the first semifinal session. The Razorbacks have faced four of five opponents with Nebraska being the only squad that Arkansas did not compete against during the 2018 season.

FloGymnastics: What is your favorite event to perform on and why? 

Amanda Wellick: My favorite event is floor, and I’m fortunate to be back in the lineup. It’s the one where you can express yourself and have fun and bring the crowd in.

What is your favorite skill to perform on any event?

My favorite skill is a side somi on beam. I don’t know why.

What is the most challenging skill that you’ve learned and what made it challenging for you?

Mine would have to be the eagle grip on bars for my double front dismount, because you have to have the perfect timing on it and it’s an awkward grip quite honestly. So if you’re off, you’re pretty off.

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What is the biggest thing you’ve taken away from the regular season that you’re looking to use at nationals?

This year we’ve spent a lot of time figuring out what our distractions are at meets, especially away meets. For a while we were struggling at away meets and figuring out that we needed to stay in our bubble and not let stuff like the other team cheering (bother you), or if you have a bad warmup or the person in front of you makes a mistake, not letting those affect your gymnastics. So we’re going to take that into nationals and apply it and just focus on us and stay in our bubble and do our thing.

How does the adversity that your team faces in the regular season help prepare you for the postseason?

Through the adversity that we’ve had this year and last year quite honestly, we’ve learned to appreciate and love the sport and be us. Our theme this year for a lot of the meets has been something with the word “us” and just doing our gymnastics. We’re going to take that into nationals; we’ve applied it a lot during postseason and just enjoying the moment every turn that we get.

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What has been the biggest challenge in coming back from the Achilles injury from last year?

I think the biggest challenge was overcoming and trying to feel normal. In the beginning, it was weird to be back on the competition floor—it’d been a year of being out—so just getting back into that groove. I think that was the hardest part because you’re so used to it and then you stopped and then you have to get back into it. In the beginning I wasn’t doing floor, so that was different for me and a different rhythm that I had to get used to.

How do you bounce back from a fall?

One of my favorite quotes that Jamie told me one time was the best athletes have the shortest memory. And if you had a mistake during the competition, you’ve got forget it and move on and be prepared to do the best you can for your team. If somebody in front of you falls, you just have to do you. Don’t worry about what they did, because you have their back and you just have to trust yourself as much as you trust them.

How would you describe each other in three words? [Editor’s note: We interviewed Amanda and teammate Sophia Carter together and they decided to describe each other instead of themselves.]

Amanda Wellick: Sophia is a competitor, a performer, and very loving and caring.

Sophia Carter: Amanda is a leader, determined, and fierce on the competition floor.

What are you most looking forward to about competing at nationals?

It’s been five years since this team has qualified as a team and my first time with the team. I’m just excited to get to be on the floor with everyone. I think it’s going to be really exciting. The two times I went as an individual I wished nothing more than to have my team by my side. I get to have that this year. It’s my last year.