Wednesday, March 22
Waco, Texas
6 PM
Baylor
vs
Frostburg State
No. 1 A&T Ready for Frostburg
3/21/2023 3:56:00 PM | Acrobatics & Tumbling
Bears begin three-meet homestand with the Bobcats
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Not quite as demanding as next month's NCATA National Championships, which includes back-to-back-to-back competition days, but top-ranked Baylor acrobatics & tumbling (4-0) will host No. 12 Frostburg State (6-0) at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Ferrell Center as the first leg of three home meets in 11 days.
"I did it purposely, though," said Baylor coach Felecia Mulkey, whose team is on a 20-meet winning streak, "because at our championships, if you make it to the last day, you go three days in a row. No better way to train for it than to train for it. So, I kind of did this purposely. Frostburg needed to add a meet, and we were able to host them. But yes, tight recovery, for sure."
While Baylor didn't lose a single heat, fifth-ranked Oregon (3-1) did at least push the Bears in a loss (283.305-278.910) two weeks ago in Eugene. BU scored 9.90 or higher in seven heats, including all three Pyramid heats, and recorded its second-highest overall score of the year.
"It's always fun to go against Oregon," said Mulkey, who won four national championships at Oregon before winning the last seven at Baylor. "They are a great program, and it always brings us to another level. Outside of the win, our team grew. We talk about the journey of the team, we took a few steps forward at that meet. It was well worth the eight-hour, 10-hour travel days that we had."
Mulkey said one of the team's main focuses is working on "what we call our defense."
"We saw that the last meet when we needed some folks to step up," she said. "We had some adversity and had to switch some things around, and we had a freshman, Alyiah Thomas, who was competing in her first meet. She stepped up, Ally Joswich stepped up.
"Just making sure we have a backup plan in every single area, so if anything comes up, we'll be able to step in. Those are the places we're going to really focus on the rest of the season."
Not surprisingly, Baylor has dominated the NCATA weekly awards. The Bears have won four of the six possible Specialist of the Week awards, with sophomore Jordan Gruendler (Specialist) and Kamryn Kitchens (Athlete of the Week) sweeping the March 15 honors.
"One of the cool things about Jordan that I love, outside of the fact that she can literally bend over backwards, is she's a fantastic teammate," Mulkey said.
"She's not the first acrobatic gymnast that we've had, but she's the first top we've had with this type of skill. She competed on the national stage in acrobatic gymnastics for years. With that type of talent, you would think she could be just a snotty kid that's uncoachable. And you will not find that with Jordan. If Jordan is not working on something herself, you will find her over on the side teaching someone else to do what she knows how to do."
Now in its third year of existence, the Frostburg State A&T program just defeated seventh-ranked Fairmont State for the first time ever with a school-record score of 272.410. The Bobcats are led by third-year head coach Katie Nunley, who was an assistant for one year at Adrian College after competing at Alderson Broaddus University.
"She's done a fantastic job," Mulkey said of Nunley. "Frostburg will be hosting the (MEC) conference championships, so they're a really good team, very well-coached and great support from their administration and their school."
Baylor's packed schedule also includes a 5 p.m. meet Saturday against fourth-ranked Quinnipiac (3-0) and another showdown with No. 5 Oregon (3-1) at 5 p.m. the following Saturday, April 1. The Bears will close out the regular season on April 9 at ninth-ranked Hawaii Pacific (2-1) before traveling to Wheeling, W. Va., for the NCATA National Championships that begin April 27.
"With our sport, it's always an adventure," Mulkey said, "because we're changing the game each year and just continuing to evolve. So, it's about replacing 18 seniors and then, how can we just go above and beyond what we did last year, not only in acro but in tumbling and in team event, etc.? So, always just trying to chase that next bar."
Wednesday's meet will be streamed by Big 12 Now on ESPN+, with Lincoln Rose and former Baylor All-American Ashley Echelberger calling the action. While supplies last, free pizza will be available to Baylor students.
WACO, Texas – Top-ranked Baylor acrobatics & tumbling is set to host No. 12 Frostburg on Wednesday night in the Ferrell Center. Start time is set for 6 p.m. CT and the meet will be streamed on ESPN+. Free pizza will be available to students while supplies last.
The Bears (4-0) start a three-meet homestand when they face the Bobcats (6-0). This will be the first meeting in program history for BU and FSU.
Baylor enters the competition on a 20-meet winning streak dating back to the 2021 season. Three of the four opponents they have faced so far have been ranked: No. 15 West Liberty, No. 14 Presbyterian and No. 5 Oregon, all wins for the Bears. BU boasts the highest final scores in the NCATA this season with its 284.200-point win over Trine on Feb. 11 and the 283.305 win over Oregon on Mar. 8. No other school has hit the 280.00-point threshold so far this season. The next-highest point total, 279.425, was hit by Azusa Pacific in their tri-meet win over Hawaii Pacific and Texas Lutheran on Mar. 11.
Coming into Wednesday's meet, the Bears own four of the six possible Specialist of the Week awards from the NCATA, with Jordan Gruendler earning the accolade most recently on Mar. 15 along with Kamryn Kitchens as the Athlete of the Week. It was Kitchens' second Athlete of the Week accolade, earning the first on Feb. 15.
Frostburg comes to Waco with an undefeated record after breaking its program-record highest final score twice this season at 270.335 and 272.410. The Bobcats have three ranked wins this season over No. 15 West Liberty, No. 11 King and No. 7 Fairmont State. FSU is in its third season, all with Katie Nunley at the helm.
The meet will be streamed on ESPN+ with Lincoln Rose providing play-by-play and alumna Ashley Echelberger as the color analyst. Fans can follow along using the live scoring link here.
A full recap and final results can be found on BaylorBears.com after the conclusion of the meet.
To stay up to date all year long on all things Baylor acrobatics & tumbling, follow the team on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @BaylorAcroTumb.
Baylor Bear Insider
Not quite as demanding as next month's NCATA National Championships, which includes back-to-back-to-back competition days, but top-ranked Baylor acrobatics & tumbling (4-0) will host No. 12 Frostburg State (6-0) at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Ferrell Center as the first leg of three home meets in 11 days.
"I did it purposely, though," said Baylor coach Felecia Mulkey, whose team is on a 20-meet winning streak, "because at our championships, if you make it to the last day, you go three days in a row. No better way to train for it than to train for it. So, I kind of did this purposely. Frostburg needed to add a meet, and we were able to host them. But yes, tight recovery, for sure."
While Baylor didn't lose a single heat, fifth-ranked Oregon (3-1) did at least push the Bears in a loss (283.305-278.910) two weeks ago in Eugene. BU scored 9.90 or higher in seven heats, including all three Pyramid heats, and recorded its second-highest overall score of the year.
"It's always fun to go against Oregon," said Mulkey, who won four national championships at Oregon before winning the last seven at Baylor. "They are a great program, and it always brings us to another level. Outside of the win, our team grew. We talk about the journey of the team, we took a few steps forward at that meet. It was well worth the eight-hour, 10-hour travel days that we had."
Mulkey said one of the team's main focuses is working on "what we call our defense."
"We saw that the last meet when we needed some folks to step up," she said. "We had some adversity and had to switch some things around, and we had a freshman, Alyiah Thomas, who was competing in her first meet. She stepped up, Ally Joswich stepped up.
"Just making sure we have a backup plan in every single area, so if anything comes up, we'll be able to step in. Those are the places we're going to really focus on the rest of the season."
Not surprisingly, Baylor has dominated the NCATA weekly awards. The Bears have won four of the six possible Specialist of the Week awards, with sophomore Jordan Gruendler (Specialist) and Kamryn Kitchens (Athlete of the Week) sweeping the March 15 honors.
"One of the cool things about Jordan that I love, outside of the fact that she can literally bend over backwards, is she's a fantastic teammate," Mulkey said.
"She's not the first acrobatic gymnast that we've had, but she's the first top we've had with this type of skill. She competed on the national stage in acrobatic gymnastics for years. With that type of talent, you would think she could be just a snotty kid that's uncoachable. And you will not find that with Jordan. If Jordan is not working on something herself, you will find her over on the side teaching someone else to do what she knows how to do."
Now in its third year of existence, the Frostburg State A&T program just defeated seventh-ranked Fairmont State for the first time ever with a school-record score of 272.410. The Bobcats are led by third-year head coach Katie Nunley, who was an assistant for one year at Adrian College after competing at Alderson Broaddus University.
"She's done a fantastic job," Mulkey said of Nunley. "Frostburg will be hosting the (MEC) conference championships, so they're a really good team, very well-coached and great support from their administration and their school."
Baylor's packed schedule also includes a 5 p.m. meet Saturday against fourth-ranked Quinnipiac (3-0) and another showdown with No. 5 Oregon (3-1) at 5 p.m. the following Saturday, April 1. The Bears will close out the regular season on April 9 at ninth-ranked Hawaii Pacific (2-1) before traveling to Wheeling, W. Va., for the NCATA National Championships that begin April 27.
"With our sport, it's always an adventure," Mulkey said, "because we're changing the game each year and just continuing to evolve. So, it's about replacing 18 seniors and then, how can we just go above and beyond what we did last year, not only in acro but in tumbling and in team event, etc.? So, always just trying to chase that next bar."
Wednesday's meet will be streamed by Big 12 Now on ESPN+, with Lincoln Rose and former Baylor All-American Ashley Echelberger calling the action. While supplies last, free pizza will be available to Baylor students.
WACO, Texas – Top-ranked Baylor acrobatics & tumbling is set to host No. 12 Frostburg on Wednesday night in the Ferrell Center. Start time is set for 6 p.m. CT and the meet will be streamed on ESPN+. Free pizza will be available to students while supplies last.
The Bears (4-0) start a three-meet homestand when they face the Bobcats (6-0). This will be the first meeting in program history for BU and FSU.
Baylor enters the competition on a 20-meet winning streak dating back to the 2021 season. Three of the four opponents they have faced so far have been ranked: No. 15 West Liberty, No. 14 Presbyterian and No. 5 Oregon, all wins for the Bears. BU boasts the highest final scores in the NCATA this season with its 284.200-point win over Trine on Feb. 11 and the 283.305 win over Oregon on Mar. 8. No other school has hit the 280.00-point threshold so far this season. The next-highest point total, 279.425, was hit by Azusa Pacific in their tri-meet win over Hawaii Pacific and Texas Lutheran on Mar. 11.
Coming into Wednesday's meet, the Bears own four of the six possible Specialist of the Week awards from the NCATA, with Jordan Gruendler earning the accolade most recently on Mar. 15 along with Kamryn Kitchens as the Athlete of the Week. It was Kitchens' second Athlete of the Week accolade, earning the first on Feb. 15.
Frostburg comes to Waco with an undefeated record after breaking its program-record highest final score twice this season at 270.335 and 272.410. The Bobcats have three ranked wins this season over No. 15 West Liberty, No. 11 King and No. 7 Fairmont State. FSU is in its third season, all with Katie Nunley at the helm.
The meet will be streamed on ESPN+ with Lincoln Rose providing play-by-play and alumna Ashley Echelberger as the color analyst. Fans can follow along using the live scoring link here.
A full recap and final results can be found on BaylorBears.com after the conclusion of the meet.
To stay up to date all year long on all things Baylor acrobatics & tumbling, follow the team on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @BaylorAcroTumb.
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