Courtesy Baylor Athletics

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 10th-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 overlay 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.”

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The No. 1-ranked Baylor acrobatics & tumbling team defeated No. 2 seed Oregon, 276.015 – 266.355, on Saturday evening at the Elmen Center in the title meet of the NCATA Championship.

The Bears (12-0) defeated the Ducks (7-3) by 9.66 points to increase the winning streak to 50 meets and capture their 10th-straight NCATA championship trophy. BU started the meet with a 0.2-point advantage in start value on Oregon.

To start off the meet in Compulsory, BU and the Ducks all executed the required skills with a start value of 10 in each heat. In the Acro heat, Oregon had an 8.775 and Baylor followed with a 9.40. The second heat, Pyramid, Oregon had 9.70 with BU matching it at 9.70. In the Toss heat, the Ducks scored 9.675, with Baylor scoring 9.75. To round out Compulsory, UO scored 8.275 in Tumbling while Baylor scored 8.65. Heading into the Acro event, the Bears were up 37.500 to 36.425.

To start the optional portion of the meet was Acro, both teams starting at a 10 for all three heats. BU and the Ducks competed the 5 Element Acro heat, featuring Leavy McDonald as the base with Jordan Gruendler as the top, competing a high straddle to handstand to reverse planche, scoring a 9.95. Oregon went before them, with a 9.90 score in their outing. In the synchronized 6 Element heat, with four different pairs of tops and bases (Alyiah Thomas/Meredith Wells, Cassie Karnbach/Gabby Kaminski, Payton Washington/Addi Grandy, and Adelaide Vezzosi/Ellie LaNeve), the Bears scored a 9.45, outscoring a 9.35 from Oregon. Washington and Thomas competed a high press, lowered, and pop-around before Kaminski and Vezzosi competed the inverted handstand. In the third heat, 7 Element Acro, Gruendler and McDonald scored 9.925 after competing a high straddle to handstand to reverse planche, where McDonald slides to split and then rotates to straddle. Oregon had scored a 9.80 in its showing. For the Acro event, BU scored 29.325 to 29.050, now totaling 66.825 to the Ducks’ 65.475 through two events, and Baylor leading by 1.35 points.

In the Pyramid event, all three heats with an SV of 10 for both teams, Oregon started it off with a 9.725 score in the Inversion heat, which BU followed with a 9.800 with Gruendler and McDonald with the one-handed handstand. Topping the Synchronized heat were Washington and Bott, based by mid-level bases McDonald and Wells, respectively. They scored a 9.875 on their high walk-in to extension, outdoing UO’s 9.675. In the Open heat, Oregon earned a 9.85, then Baylor’s Gruendler topped McDonald and competed the inverted high-handstand, scoring a 9.875. For the Pyramid event, Baylor scored a 29.55, while the Ducks scored a 29.25.

At the half, BU was up 96.375 to Oregon’s 94.725, leading by 1.65 points.

To kick off the second half in the Toss event, it was Washington topping the Salto heat, competing the kick-double and finishing with a score of 9.725/10, which followed and outdid the Ducks’ score of 9.50/9.50. In the Synchronized heat, Washington and Gabby Kaminski were the tops, scoring 9.525/9.90, while the Ducks had a score of 9.325/9.90. In the final heat, the Open heat, Kaminski was the top, scoring a 9.60/9.90 with her back-double, whereas the Ducks scored an 9.625/10. Both Heat 2 and Heat 3 were season-high scores for the Bears. At the end of the Toss event, Baylor totaled 28.85, while Oregon had a 28.45. Through four events, BU had a score of 125.225 while UO had a 123.175, the Bears up by 2.05 points.

In the Tumbling event, both teams had SVs of 10 for all six heats. Oregon started in the Duo pass, scoring a 9.225. For the Bears were Thomas and Gigi Rendino, who scored a 9.325 on their roundoff whip Arabian to roundoff back handspring back layout 540. In the Trio were Bott, Sophia Neylon, and Nova Schmit, competing a roundoff back handspring back layout 540 roundoff to whip back layout 360, earning a score of 9.05. The Ducks came out first in that heat with an 9.15. In the Quad pass (Heat 3) were Washington, Aliyah Kaloostian, Sarah Kerr, and Kaminski, scoring a 8.925 for their front punch to roundoff back handspring back layout 540 roundoff back layout 360, while Oregon put up a score of 8.90. For the Aerial pass, it was Thomas, who scored a 9.625 after competing a roundoff whip Arabian roundoff back handspring back layout 540, while Oregon earned an 9.775 score. Competing in the 6 Element heat was Bott competing a roundoff whip whip whip back handspring back layout 540, earning a 9.75 score; UO earned a score of 9.725. Washington earned a 9.925 for the Open heat with a punch front roundoff back handspring back layout 540 roundoff back layout 360, with the Ducks showing up with a 9.775. Combined, Baylor had a score of 56.600 to finish the Tumbling event while Oregon had a score of 56.550. After five events, BU led 181.825 to 179.725, up by 2.1 points.

In the Team event, the Ducks performed, scoring an 94.190. Baylor competed and scored 266.355.

The meet was finalized, and BU came out on top with a 276.015 score against Oregon’s 266.355; the Bears won by 9.66 points.