By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
 
Baylor acrobatics & tumbling coach Felecia Mulkey is in denial about Saturday's Senior Day, when the top-ranked Bears (5-0) will recognize seven graduating seniors following the last regular-season home meet against No. 4 Gannon (6-0).
 
Senior All-American base Riley Chimwala even refers to it as Senior Appreciation Day, "so there's no finality to it," Mulkey said.
 
"It is emotional, I don't talk about it," Mulkey said. "We decided we're in denial until they just don't show up next fall, so we're not actually dealing with it. The underclassmen decorated the locker room yesterday, put posters up and signed all the posters. And I just didn't deal with it. But I went into grab some things today, and I stopped to read the posters and got all teary-eyed. I actually told them, 'I'm going to cry tomorrow, so you guys can just deal with it.'''
 
In addition to Chimwala, a three-time All-American and 2021 NCATA Freshman of the Year, the seniors recognized after Saturday's 5 p.m. meet at the Ferrell Center will be top/tumblers Kristen McCain and Ally Joswick, tumbler Gianna Vaiarelli, top Brennah Cotner and bases Zoé Collins and Bayley Humphrey, a two-time All-American and 2022 NCATA Specialist of the Year.
 
Coming from an acrobatics gymnastics background, Humphrey has combined with junior top Jordan Gruendler to add new acro elements like the "ring" and the "pencil."
 
"Really, (Humphrey and Gruendler) together – and then Bayley, honestly, alone – have changed the game," Mulkey said. "We're going to be sad to see her go because she's our teammate, but I think the sport as a whole has kind of grasped on to Bayley. She's wonderful; all of them, this is just a really special group of humans. So, this is not going to be fun. I tried to find a way to keep (Humphrey) around, and she just has things she's got to do."
 
The reigning and three-time NCATA Athlete of the Week, Chimwala got "overlooked a little bit" last year, Mulkey said.
 
"This year, just based on points earned alone for her, it's really kind of put her up there," Mulkey said. "And she can do all these crazy things, too. I think one of the cool things, if you don't know the sport, watch Riley and watch how many different tops she works with. I know in the second meet, our first home meet, she was with at least four if not five tops during the meet and at a high level of execution. That's just crazy."
 
A three-time NCATA Academic Honor Roll selection, Collins said the four years at Baylor have "gone by so fast."
 
"It's really sad, but an exciting time," she said. "I've gotten so close with the senior class and the whole team. . . . It's been really fun, because I've been a fan since high school and it's cool to actually be a part of the team."
 
Coming off a spring break road trip to New York, where the Bears ran their winning streak to 32-consecutive meets with wins over Iona and LIU, Baylor faces a Gannon team that has beaten four-straight ranked opponents.
 
"There's not the name recognition with Gannon, so people are like, 'Oh, you know,''' Mulkey said. "No, Gannon is better than Oregon, Gannon is better than Quinnipiac. They should, in my opinion, be ranked No. 2 right now. In my preseason poll, I ranked them 2. They didn't graduate any seniors, they're really good. They have a great toss event, where that is our weakness.
 
"Gannon is good, this will be a really big meet. I think people are overlooking it because of the name recognition. But yeah, they're good."
 
The Golden Knights are led by second-year head coach Brandy Duren, who competed at Oregon under Mulkey and was part of three national championship teams.
 
"She's one of my former babies," Mulkey said. "The only one (that we're facing) that is not one of mine is Taylor (Susnara) at Oregon, and I had recruited her (before I came to Baylor."
 
Saturday's meet, which will also feature a baby race at halftime, will be streamed by Big 12 Now on ESPN+, with former KCEN sports anchor Kurtis Quillin and Baylor A&T alumna Ashley Echelberger on the call.



WACO, Texas – No. 1 Baylor acrobatics and tumbling will host No. 4 Gannon in their final home meet of the season. The meet will start at 5 p.m. CT at the Ferrell Center. 
 
The Bears (5-0) face the Golden Knights (6-0) for the seventh time in program history and fifth time in Waco. 
 
BU is coming off a two-meet road trip and earned the Bears' first perfect 10 of the season in Open Pyramid heat vs. LIU. The Bears also earned three scores of 9.95 across the two meets in Inversion Pyramid and 5-Element Acro vs. LIU as well as Synchronized Pyramid vs. Iona. 
 
Gannon is coached by Brandy Duren, a former student-athlete of Baylor head coach Felecia Mulkey when she was at Oregon. The Golden Knights are coming off a two-win streak at home, beating Azusa Pacific 270.905-258.635 on Mar. 5. On Monday, the Knights scored a season high 278.605 at home vs. Fairmont State.
 
Baylor will honor its seven graduating seniors immediately following the conclusion of the meet and will also feature a baby race at halftime. Tickets are a dollar for fans looking to attend the meet.
 
The senior class consists of top/tumbler Kristen McCain, tumbler Gianna Vaiarelli, top Brennah Cotner, top/tumbler Ally Joswick, bases Zoë Collins, Riley Chimwala and Bayley Humphrey.
 
The meet will be streamed on ESPN+ with Kurtis Quillin and alumna Ashley Echelberger on the call. Live results are available here. A full recap and final scores will be posted to BaylorBears.com/acro 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, Tik Tok and Instagram: @BaylorAcroTumb.