AZUSA, Calif. – Acrobatics and Tumbling began its final season before the sport comes under the NCAA banner Friday evening, as the Cougars fell 283.275-260.50 against 10-time national champion Baylor inside the Felix Event Center.
The Bears' victory was never in doubt, as the visitors won all 20 heats. But the Cougars still put forth a good showing, starting in the compulsory events, where the pyramid team put up a 9.70 and the toss contingent followed that up with a 9.80. That left the Cougars just a point down heading into the toss event, where the 5-element heat, contested by Carly Jackman, Jenna Moisio, Josie Purcell, and Kendall Sullivan, scored a 9.55. The Cougars' best score of the night was their final of the first half, as the open pyramid heat put up a 9.85. Aided by that score, the Cougars put up 94 points in the first half of the meet, staying within four points of Baylor at the time.
The Bears' athletes started to pull away in the second half, as their performances proved to match the increased difficulty they put into their toss and tumbling heats. Baylor scored a minimum of 9.60 on each of their three heats in the toss event, then won the tumbling event by nearly five points to stretch their advantage to double digits. Abigail Cortez had the best score for the Cougars in the second half with a 9.45 in the 6-element tumbling pass. The Cougars laid down a decent marker to improve on in the team event going forward, scoring 86.5 points, though Baylor's team event already seems in championship form, putting up 99.1.
All-time, Baylor leads the series against Azusa Pacific 11-4, having won all eight since their current head coach, Felicia Mulkey, joined the program in 2015. The score of 260.5 is a good starting point to build from, as average team score is often more important to the national rankings than win-loss record.
Up Next: Azusa Pacific (0-1) was ranked 10th in the preseason NCATA rankings. Their quest to reach the top 8 and qualify for April's national championships next heads to Honolulu on February 21st to take on 13th-ranked Hawai'i Pacific. The meet is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. Hawaiian Standard Time (7:00 p.m. Pacific).
