DECADE OF DOMINANCE

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Since the judges didn't give top-seeded Baylor acrobatics & tumbling a perfect 10.0 score in Saturday's NCATA national championship final at the Elmen Center, the Bears just went out and got their own 10.

Breaking open a tight meet by dominating the closing team event, Baylor (12-0) defeated No. 2 seed Oregon, 276.015 to 266.355, to win its 10^th-consecutive NCATA national championship.

Some things just don't change.

"This was not an easy championship to win, and I don't want anyone to think that," said Baylor coach Felecia Mulkey, who has now won all 13 national championships that NCATA has handed out, winning her first four at Oregon.

"I don't remember there being any major mistakes. I know they had a couple bigger bobbles in team event than we did. Outside of that, no shame to Oregon. That was not easy, that was anybody's game. We had to go out and hit to win."

And the Bears did just that, winning 14 of the 19 heats and leading by just over two points going into the team event, 181.825-179.725.

"I just felt overly relaxed today," said senior base Bailey Baughn. "I think in our four years, this is the most prepared that we've been for a championship. Honestly, as we were going through each individual event, I was like, 'Oh, okay, let's just go out there and do our job. It's just like practice, just go out there and do your job.'''

Even with a couple mishaps, including a face plant by junior top/tumbler Charlyze Hemby, the Bears still dominated the team event, 94.190-86.630, to finally create separation in their sixth matchup against the Ducks (7-3) in an NCATA final.

"I knew that if we could just hang on (in tumbling) that how we had been scoring, we would do well," Mulkey said. "That's kind of what we talked about, we don't have to win tumbling, we just need to hang in tumbling, and then we need to hit in team event. So, that was our strategy going in."

Baylor did win the tumbling event by the slimmest margin, 56.600-56.550 – a difference of just 0.05 points – and lost two of the six heats. But it was enough to give the Bears a somewhat comfortable lead of 2.100 going into the team event.

"All year long, you build up to this moment," said senior tumbler Aliyah Kaloostian. "And knowing that we hadn't necessarily peaked, that was so exciting going in against Oregon for the third time. We knew what we had to do, and we went out there and did it."

In the post-match Zoom press conference, Mulkey carried in a sign that said, "Front Legs Only," with a picture of a wiener dog.

"I am obsessed with wiener dogs," she said. "Front legs for us means, be aggressive."

Baylor will compete in 14 heats of the NCAA Event Finals, including all three heats of Acro, Pyramid and Toss, along with five of the six tumbling heats. Streamed by ESPN+, the event finals will start at 10 a.m. CT Sunday.

"Whenever I went up to Coach Fee, right before the team event, I was like, 'OK, I'm making eye contact and locking in remembering everything I need to remember throughout team event," Baughn said, "because I can't let my emotions carry me into this team event. I still have two minutes and 45 seconds to lock in. And then, I can celebrate and cry."

DECADE OF DOMINANCE

Players Mentioned

Bailey Baughn

Charlyze Hemby

Aliyah Kaloostian

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