By Ben Everett | Sports Writer
Three-time defending champion and No. 1 Baylor Acrobatics & Tumbling team took down No. 7 Fairmont State 284.835-266.410 Monday night in the Ferrell Center to remain undefeated on the season.
The Bears (6-0) notched their season-high score to hand the Falcons (3-1) their first loss.
Baylor head coach Felecia Mulkey said she is proud of the team but that improvements can still be made.
“I’m really proud of them,” Mulkey said. “We’re in the right mindset, but we still need to make some changes.”
In the compulsory event, Baylor took the crown 38.85-37.05. The Bears held the edge in all four heats, winning the acro heat 9.60-9.20, the pyramid heat 9.85-9.55, the toss heat 9.90-9.80 and the tumbling heat 9.50-8.50.
Moving on to the acro event, the Bears edged out the Fighting Falcons in each heat, winning 9.95-9.55 in heat one, 9.95-9.80 in heat two and 9.90-9.80 in heat three to win the event 29.80-29.15 overall.
In the pyramid event, the Bears were bested in heat two 9.70-9.60, but outscored Fairmont 9.90-9.85 in heat one and 9.80-9.65 in heat three to win the event overall 29.30-29.20 and take a 97.95-95.40 lead into halftime.
After the break, the Bears dominated the toss event by an overall score of 29.25-27.30, winning heat one 9.80-9.30, heat two 9.70-9.00 and heat three 9.75-9.00.
Mulkey said she was surprised by how well the Bears performed in the toss event.
“Today I was really proud of our toss event,” Mulkey said. “Usually toss is hit or miss and its not one of our strengths.”
Fairmont State freshman Caitlyn Faint collapsed at the end of her open heat tumbling pass and had to be carried off by her teammates resulting in a score of 7.450. Baylor senior Lauren Sturm tied her career high with a 9.825 in the Bears’ tumbling open pass.
The Bears outscored the Falcons 9.350-8.450 in the duo heat, 8.800-7.850 in the trio heat, 9.050-8.200 in the quad heat, 9.700-9.425 in the aerial heat and 9.900-9.475 in the six element heat to win the tumbling event 56.625-50.850.
In the team event, Baylor scored 101.01 to Fairmont State’s 92.86 to win 284.835-266.410 overall.
The Bears look to remain undefeated as they face Azusa Pacific at 7 p.m. March 24 in the Ferrell Center.
