Marissa Essenburg | Sports Writer
For the 11th straight year, No. 1 Baylor acrobatics and tumbling left the NCATA stage the only way it knows how — as national champions, closing the association’s era with one final trophy Saturday night.
After rolling past Duquesne and Fairmont State, the Bears took down No. 3 seed Quinnipiac 271.835-266.265 at the Felix Event Center in Azusa, Calif. Baylor pulled away in the team event to finish 13-0, extending its winning streak to 62 meets to cement its dynasty under the NCATA name.
“It’s just an amazing feeling,” junior Payton Washington said. “For the past however many months, this is what we’ve been working toward. That machine-like confidence, trusting every single person, trusting our training and knowing we can do it no matter what — that’s what made it easy out there. We did what we needed to do, and I’m just so proud of my team.”
With a steady showing from both teams leaving Baylor with only a two-point advantage entering the finale, the Bears created separation in the final event, edging the Bobcats (7-3) 90.660-87.090 to seal the victory by a 5.570-point margin.
“There was nothing where we walked off the mat unsatisfied,” head coach Felecia Mulkey said. “We were satisfied, and that was our goal today.”
Setting the tone early in compulsories, Baylor topped Quinnipiac 36.975-36.775 to take a slim 0.20-point lead after the opening event.
From there, the Bears began to widen the gap in acro, where junior tumbler Sofia Criado and redshirt sophomore base Leavy McDonald scored a 9.900 in the final heat to help Baylor outscore Quinnipiac 29.425-28.425.
Continuing to hold firm in pyramid, junior tops/tumblers Payton Washington and Emily Bott took over, scoring a season high-tying 9.950 in the synchronized heat and giving Baylor a 95.950-94.850 edge at halftime.
“They were locked and loaded and ready to go,” Mulkey said at halftime. “This is the mentally strongest team in the country.”
Despite Quinnipiac slightly taking the toss event by 0.075 points, the Bears refused to surrender control. Instead, they answered in tumbling with one of the meet’s defining stretches, posting a 56.575-55.600 advantage behind clutch performances from Bott, Washington and sophomore Sarah Kerr.
Bott scored a 9.725 in the aerial pass, while Washington and Kerr added 9.625 apiece in their respective heats, pushing Baylor’s lead to two points entering the team event.
From there, Baylor delivered its championship response.
“It’s that feeling of, ‘Wow, we just did that,’” Bott said. “It was amazing. We have been working for that feeling all year, and you never know if you’re going to get it after the routine. Yesterday, we left unsatisfied, and today we were at our best. We left nothing on the mat.”
With the title within reach, the Bears posted a 90.660 in the team event, outscoring Quinnipiac by more than three points in the finale to secure another NCATA crown before the sport transitions into its next chapter under the NCAA.
But for the Bears, the moment was much bigger than just another trophy.
“Another trophy is so amazing, but our goal is for this sport to go another hundred years,” Washington said in front of 1,256 fans at the Felix Event Center.
And it didn’t just stop there.
Less than 24 hours after winning the national championship, Baylor returned to the mat Sunday morning and kept the titles coming, earning seven individual heat trophies in the NCATA Event Finals.
Competing in all 15 event finals after qualifying based on their quarterfinal scores Thursday, the defending champs continued to roll, sweeping the acro event, winning five-element, six-element and seven-element acro, before adding titles in inversion pyramid, synchronized pyramid, open toss and quad tumbling.
Adding seven more trophies on their final day of competition, the Bears put one last stamp on a dominant weekend, solidifying a dynasty and the standard they set before trading the NCATA crown for the blue dot next spring.
