AZUSA, Calif. -- Although Azusa Pacific honored two seniors who competed in their final regular-season home meet Tuesday, the Cougars will save the farewell performance for Kalani Aguigui and Hannah Welander for several more weeks after Baylor notched a 10-point win (286.800 to 276.945) over Azusa Pacific in the regular-season finale for both teams.
In exactly 16 days, Azusa Pacific will host the 2017 National Collegiate Acrobatics & Tumbling Association (NCATA) National Championships, just as it did in 2014 when Aguigui and Welander wrapped up their freshman year as NCATA national runners-up.
The Cougars conclude the regular season with a 2-4 overall record, while Baylor rolls into the postseason with a 6-1 overall mark.
The senior duo helped Azusa Pacific tie its season-best score with a 9.90 in the compulsory pyramid, and Welander was one of five Cougars who scored a season-best 9.80 in the seven-element acro heat. As a team, Azusa Pacific posted its second-highest scores in three of the six events, but Baylor's execution was in championship form as the Bears beat the Cougars in all six events and all but one heat to methodically build its lead to the final 9.855-point margin.
Welander, along with Rachel Shier and MaryKate Cacchione, beat Baylor's quartet in the five-element acro heat, scoring 9.80 to the Bears' 9.75. Azusa Pacific scored better than its season average in four of the six events, posting its second-best score of the year in the acro, pyramid, and tumbling events.
Highlights in tumbling included a pair of season-best performances, with the tumbling trio of Shier, Hannah Steffen, and Noelle Miranda scoring 9.05 to edge the team's previous best of 9.00, while Courtney Moser matched a season-best of 9.775 in the six-element solo tumbling pass.