Photo Gallery

Results

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation

Even with a "weird energy," top-seeded Baylor recorded a couple perfect 10.0 scores and rolled into the NCATA National Championship semifinals Sunday with a dominating win over the Gannon University Golden Knights.

Competing in front of a Ferrell Center crowd of 1,043, the Bears (8-0) opened up nearly a five-point lead at the halfway mark and then sealed it with strong showings in the tumbling and closing team event to defeat the visiting Golden Knights, 285.175-261.480.

"Today was definitely a handle-business day," Baylor coach Felecia Mulkey said. "If you're on the bench with us a lot, you have those just weird energy days. We pulled together and talked a couple times, like, `Guys, this energy is so weird, don't let your guard down.' I just wanted them to get this first one out of the way and get the tournament jitters out."

If there were any jitters, they certainly didn't show on the floor.

Baylor took command early, winning the four-heat compulsory event, 38.75-35.75. The pyramid heat team of Kaelyn Cowan, Molly Gibbons, Gigi Mendoza, Miranda Girouard, Lauren Sturm, Allie Alaman, Allie Williams, Kelci Ortiz, Kaylee Adams, Courtney Pate, Taylor Watson, Toni Ronisevsky, Shayla Kelley, Amanda Graceffa and Meredith Aldis scored a perfect 10.0.

"Allie Williams is coming back from a shoulder injury," Mulkey said. "She's actually the top of one side of that compulsory pyramid, and we struggled with that this year. We never got really low, but there were a couple tenths we would lose. So we knew if we could get her in there with her really strong lines on top and get it synchronized, that we could score well. So, that was very big for us."

The Bears also finished with edges in the acro (29.55-28.50) and pyramid events (29.65-28.85) and a comfortable 4.85-point lead at the break, 97.95-93.10. In acro, Baylor's 6-element team of Williams, Mendoza, Kati Horstmann, Kiara Nowlin and Kalee Garvin recorded a near-perfect 9.95.

Baylor extended its lead with a 29.35-27.70 edge in the toss event and blew it open by dominating the six tumbling heats, 57.775-50.600. Highlights included Nowlin's third perfect 10.0 score of the season in the 6-element pass and Sturm's 9.85 in the open pass.

"I never know what my score is going to be. I never expect anything," Nowlin said. "So, that was really exciting and I hope to do it again tomorrow and hopefully Tuesday, too. . . . I just get really excited when I do that landing where I stick and step. It's really hard to judge how you're going to land coming out of that skill, so I always smile at the end if I do the landing that I want to do."

Mulkey said it wasn't one of Nowlin's better landings, "I've seen her actually do it better."

"In my opinion, she could do better than that tomorrow and get another 10," she said. "But it was a really solid pass, a really controlled landing. I think that's what kept her out of that 6-element yesterday (in the individual event finals). She picked it up today."

Capping the meet with a spectacular team routine, the Bears wowed the crowd by scoring 100.10 out of a possible 105.53.

"Coach Fee always tells us to keep our guard up," Nowlin said. "You never know how your team routine is going to go. You have to keep your guard up and execute really well, play by play."

Baylor advances to Monday's 7 p.m. semifinal and will face fourth-seeded Hawaii Pacific (4-3), which finished off the sweep by the higher seeds by beating No. 5 Azusa Pacific, 277.785-271.995. In Sunday's other quarterfinals, second-seeded Oregon defeated No. 7 Alderson Broaddus, 276.380-266.000; and third-seeded Quinnipiac edged No. 6 Fairmont State, 273.425-269.975.

"I pulled the girls together right before the team event and told them, `You know, we've had really crummy practices and you guys have pulled it together for team events. So, let's just put an exclamation point on the day,''' Mulkey said. "And they did. They pulled it together. There's room for improvement in the team event, too, but I thought they did really well."

Tickets for Monday's semifinals and Tuesday's 7 p.m. final are $10 for adults, $5 for youth ages 2-17 and free for Baylor students with an ID.

THE RUNDOWN
No. 1 Baylor Acrobatics & Tumbling (8-0) took down the No. 8 Gannon University (4-5) 285.175-261.480 Sunday afternoon at the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas.

The Bears broke open the meet in compulsory event to take the lead 38.75-35.75. Baylor continued to excel in the acro event, with a win in the event 29.55-28.50, extending the lead to 68.30-64.25. Before the half, the Bears impressed in the pyramid event, 29.65-28.85 and kept the lead 97.950-93.100.

After the break, BU soared in the toss event, 29.35-27.70, extended their lead to 127.300-120.800. The Bears continued to dominate in the tumbling event, 57.775-50.600 and led Gannon 185.075-171.400 heading into the team event.

Baylor finished off the meet in style with a 100.10-90.08 win in the team event, the third time they have broken the 100-point mark this season.

HIGHLIGHTS
- Sophomore Lauren Sturm tumbled her way to a 9.875 in her open pass.
- The team of Kaelyn Cowan, Molly Gibbons, Gigi Mendoza, Miranda Girouard, Lauren Sturm, Allie Alaman, Allie Williams, Kelci Ortiz, Kaylee Adams, Courtney Pate, Taylor Watson, Toni Bronisevsky, Shayla Kelley, Amanda Graceffa and Meredith Aldis received a perfect 10 in the pyramid heat of the compulsory event.
- In heat 2 of the acro event, the team of Allie Williams, Kati Horseman, Gigi Mendoza, Kiara Nowlin and Kalee Garvin scored a 9.90.
- The Bears acro score of 29.55 was the fourth highest all-time.

STAT OF THE DAY
Junior Kiara Nowlin earned a perfect 10 in her 6 element pass, marking the third time this season she has earned a perfect score.

TOP QUOTE
"Today was definitely a handle business day, it was very weird and if you are on the bench with us a lot you have those weird energy days," head coach Felecia Mulkey said. "We pulled together and talked a couple times and said this energy is weird, don't let your guard down. I wanted them to be able to do that to get the first one out of the way and get the tournament jitters out. It's our home crowd and it's our home field but it feels different when it's the tournament, so I thought they did well and we definitely have some room for improvement."

WHAT'S NEXT
The No. 1 seeded Bears will face No. 4 Hawaii Pacific (4-3) in the NCATA national championship semifinals at 7 p.m. (CT) at the Ferrell Center. The Bears defeated Hawaii Pacific earlier this season in Honolulu, 271.335-267.335.

Keep up with the latest on the 2016 NCATA National Championships with the Championship Central website.

Tickets for the National Championship may be purchased at the event or online. For those not able to attend, the competition may be viewed for free online at: Live Stream.

Follow @BaylorAcroTumb on Twitter for updates throughout the season.