Head Coach Aryn DeGrood

Aryn DeGrood is entering her 11th season as head gymnastics coach in the 2024-25 school year. A 2009 Gustavus graduate and four-year member of the gymnastics team, DeGrood served as the program's assistant coach before taking over the reigns as the sixth head coach in the program’s history in 2014.

DeGrood, a native of Eden Prairie, collected her second WIAC Coach of the Year honor in 2024 after previously earning the award in 2017. DeGrood was also named the Division III West Region Coach of the Year in both seasons. She has coached 21 WIAC All-Conference athletes, one WIAC champion, 10 All-Americans, and one national event champion. She also coached the West Region Gymnast of the Year in both 2016 (Alex Kopp) and 2019 (Amanda Malo).

In her most recent season, DeGrood's squad broke five records and set 18 individual career high scores. The Gusties broke the program team record score twice (UW-Oshkosh - 188.550, Winona State - 188.875), set a new team vault (47.5) and beam (48.05) record, and a new individual beam record (Maddox Lee - 9.775). Additionally, both Maddox Lee and Marley Michaud earned All-Conference honors, while all graduating seniors earned NCGA Academic All-America status, marking the ninth season in a row the graduating class has completed this feat.

While at Gustavus, Aryn Bell DeGrood was a member of both the gymnastics and track & field teams. As a gymnast, she earned four letters and was a key contributor on the vault, uneven parallel bars, and floor exercise. She competed in the vault at the NCGA Championships in 2008 and 2009 and was named a NCGA All-Academic honoree her senior season. On the track, she excelled in the 100-meter hurdles and earned a total of four All-Conference honors over her career. DeGrood held the school record in the 100-hurdles until national champion Birgen Nelson '23 claimed it in 2023.

After graduating from Gustavus with a degree in history, DeGrood attended the University of North Dakota, where she served as a graduate assistant coach in the track & field program for two seasons while working toward her master’s degree in history. Following her time at UND, she assisted two years with the Macalester College track & field program before returning to Gustavus as an assistant for the gymnastics team in June of 2013.

Aryn resides in Saint Peter and is married to her husband Justin '07, and together have two daughters, Zoey and Harper, as well as a dog, Riggs.