Baylor Acrobatics & Tumbling Wins Seventh-Straight NCATA Championship
EUGENE, Oregon – No. 1 Baylor acrobatics & tumbling won their seventh-straight NCATA National Championship on Saturday night in Matthew Knight Arena, besting No. 3 Gannon, 273.685 – 268.965.
The Bears (11-0) beat the Golden Knights (10-2) by 4.72 points to win head coach Felecia Mulkey’s 11th-consecutive championship in her career and seventh at Baylor.
With the win, Baylor extended its current winning streak to 16-consecutive meets dating back to March 27, 2021. The Bears are now 22-4 in NCATA postseason meets.
BU overtook GU in every event, only dropping two heats overall to the Knights. GU is the only non-original NCATA institution to ever advance to the title meet.
Starting off the meet, Baylor had a 9.55 in acro, 9.85 in pyramid, 9.925 in toss and a 8.925 in tumbling in the compulsory event. The Bears finished with a score of 38.25 in the event, with Gannon scoring a 37.50.
In the acro event, BU scored a 9.9 in the five-element, a 9.925 in the six-element and a 9.75 in the seven-element heats. The Bears totaled an event score of 29.575, while the Golden Knights came away with an event score of 28.60. Through two events, Baylor was up 67.825-66.100.
For pyramid, the Bears recorded total of 29.45 for the three heats. In the inversion pyramid, BU had a score of 9.875, followed by a 9.675 in the synchronized heat. To highlight the event, Baylor had a 9.90 in the open heat to total 29.45 for the pyramid event overall. The Knights scored a 29.35 in the event to total 95.45 for the half, while Baylor stayed in the lead with a halftime score of 97.275.
In the toss event, BU had scores of 9.625, 9.425 and 9.75 to total 28.80 points. Gannon had 9.40, 9.65 and 9.725 to score a 28.775. Headed into tumbling, Baylor was up 126.075 to 124.225, leading by 1.85 points.
In tumbling, the Bears scored above a 9.4 in four heats. Emily Tobin had a 9.75 in the six-element pass and Briana Harris scored a 9.975 in the open pass, tying her season-best for the heat. BU finished with a score of 56.95 while Gannon had a 54.20. Going into the final event of the meet, Baylor was leading 183.025 – 178.425.
The Bears had a score of 90.660 in the team event to end the meet, bringing the total to 273.685. The Knights had a point total of 90.540 from the team event to total 268.965 for the meet.
Earlier in the day, Baylor reigned in four individual event champion titles, winning the seven-element acro, inversion pyramid, trio pass and open pass events. With the four wins, the Bears have 40 NCATA individual event champion titles in program history.