No. 1 Baylor A&T Wins Big to Start Season at No. 5 UMHB

BELTON, Texas – The No. 1-ranked Baylor acrobatics & tumbling team started the season with a win against No. 5 Mary-Hardin Baylor, 276.240 to 255.335.

The Bears (1-0) defeated the Crusaders (0-1) by over 20 points to start the season, increasing the meet win streak to 39 in a row.

To start off the meet in Compulsory, BU and the Cru all executed the necessary skills. In the Acro heat, Baylor scored a 9.35 and UMHB followed with a 9.30. After a correction in scoring, BU took the Pyramid heat, 9.70 to 9.55. Winning the Toss heat by .15 points, the Bears scored a 9.85 followed by UMHB’s 9.70. In the Tumbling heat, BU scored an 8.65, the Cru scoring 7.80. Through one event, the score was 37.55 to UMHB’s 36.35.

To start the optional portion of the meet, BU started the competition in the Acro event with their 5 Element heat, featuring Adelaide Vezzosi as the top and Ellie LaNeve as the base, competing an inverted handstand to yogi, then straddle hold, scoring an 8.55 after she re-started the heat. The Crusaders followed with a 9.20 score in their heat. In the synchronized 6 Element heat, with four different pairs of tops and bases, the Bears scored 9.35, followed by 8.85 from the Cru. In the third heat, Jordan Gruendler and Leavy McDonald scored a 9.90 after competing the dual one-handed inverted handstand before debuting a new skill, whereas McDonald slides into the splits and Gruendler competes a planche. UMHB followed it up with a score of 9.65 in its heat. For the Acro event, BU scored a 27.80 to UMHB’s 27.70, now totaling 65.35 to 64.05 through two events and Baylor leading by 1.30 points.

In the Pyramid event, BU started it off with a 9.8 score in the Inversion heat with Gruendler and McDonald. Topping the Synchronized heat were Payton Washington and Emily Bott, based by McDonald and Meredith Wells, respectively. They scored a 9.6 while the Cru produced a 9.5. In the Open heat, Gruendler topped McDonald and competed the inverted planche, scoring a 9.95, which the Cru matched in their Open heat. For the Pyramid event, Baylor scored a 29.35/30, while UMHB scored a 28.55/30.

At the half, BU was up 94.70 to 92.60, leading by 2.1 points.

To kick off the second half in the Toss event, it was Washington topping the 450 Salto heat, finishing with a score of 9.50, followed by an 8.70 from UMHB. In the Synchronized heat, Washington and Rakel Jeffries were the tops, scoring 9.40 which the Cru followed with a score of 8.75. In the final heat, the Open heat, Gabby Kaminski was the top, scoring a 9.60, which the Crusaders scored a 9.25 against. At the end of the Toss event, Baylor totaled 28.50 while UMHB had a 26.70. Through four events, BU had a score of 123.200 while UMHB had a 119.300, the Bears up by 3.90 points.

In the Tumbling event, starting in the Duo for the Bears were Alyiah Thomas and Gigi Rendino who scored a 9.35 on their round off to whip, Arabian tuck roundoff back handspring to back layout 540, followed by a score of 7.15 from UMHB. In the Trio were Bott, Gianna Cameron and Ashlyn Tannehill competing a roundoff whip to whip, back handspring to back handspring, back layout 540, earning a score of 9.10 which the Crusaders put an 8.25 up against. In the Quad pass were Washington, Aliyah Kaloostian, Sarah Kerr and Kaminski, scoring a 7.25 for their front tuck roundoff back handspring back layout 540 round off back layout 360, while UMHB put up a score of 7.55. For the Aerial pass it was Bott, who scored a 9.70 after competing a round off whip to whip to whip, back handspring to back layout 540, while the Cru earned a 9.225 score. Competing in the 6 Element heat was Washington competing a front tuck to round off back handspring to back layout 540, round off back layout 360, earning a 9.925 score; UMHB earning a score of 8.925. Kerr earned a 9.825 for the Open heat, with the Cru 8.075. Combined, Baylor had a score of 55.15 to finish the Tumbling event while the Crusaders had a score of 49.175. After five events, BU led 178.350 to 168.475, up by 9.875 points.

In Team event, Baylor competed first and scored a 97.89. The Cru came next, scoring a xxx.

The meet finalized, BU came out on top with a 276.240 score against UMHB’s 255.335; the Bears winning by 20.905 points.