No. 1 Baylor A&T Walks Away Victorious against No. 10 Saint Leo

[Allen, Madelon]

BAYLOR ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS – March 29, 2025

No. 1 Baylor A&T Walks Away Victorious against No. 10 Saint Leo
Bears defeat Lions by 27.51 points

For more information contact: Madelon Allen, 254-252-7168, madelon_allen at baylor.edu<mailto:madelon_allen at baylor.edu>


WACO, Texas – The No. 1-ranked Baylor acrobatics & tumbling team finished with a win against No. 10 St. Leo, 277.45 - 249.94, on Saturday night at the Ferrell Center.

The Bears (7-0) defeated the Lions (4-1) by 27.51 points to increase the winning streak to 46 meets. BU started the meet with an 18.66-point advantage in start value up on St. Leo.

To start off the meet in Compulsory, BU and St. Leo all executed the required skills with a start value of 10 in each heat. In the Acro heat, Baylor scored a 9.50, and St. Leo followed with an 8.70. BU took the Pyramid heat, 9.80 to 9.65. The Bears scored a Perfect 10 in the Toss, followed by St. Leo's 9.65. In the Tumbling heat, BU won by 2.15 points as BU scored a 9.15, the Lions scoring 7.00. Through one event, the score was 38.45 to St. Leo's 35.00.

To start the optional portion of the meet, BU started the competition in the Acro event with their 5 Element heat, featuring Emily Bott as the first top and Leavy McDonald as the base, competing a high press, then Jordan Gruendler stepped in and performing the high handstand to straddle, scoring a 9.95/10. The Lions followed with a 9.25/9.80 score in their heat. 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 Addie Vezzosi/Ellie LaNeve), the Bears scored a 9.70/10, followed by 8.80/9.90 from St. Leo. Washington and Thomas competed a high press, lowered, and pop-around before Vasquez and Hemby competed the inverted handstand. In the third heat, Gruendler and McDonald scored a 9.850/10 after competing a new combination of skills – the stacked hands handstand to a one-handed handstand to one-handed. They are the only duo to compete these elements in the country. St. Leo followed it up with a score of 9.60/10 in its heat. For the Acro event, BU scored 29.50/30 to the Lions' 27.65/29.70, now totaling 67.95 to 62.65 through two events, and Baylor leading by 5.30 points.

In the Pyramid event, BU and St. Leo all executed the required skills with a start value of 10 in each heat. BU started it off with a 9.90 score in the Inversion heat with Gruendler and McDonald with the one-handed handstand, and St. Leo showed up with a 9.80. Topping the Synchronized heat were Washington and Bott, based by mid-level bases McDonald and Wells, respectively. They scored a 9.80 on their high walk-in to extension, while the Lions produced a 9.750. In the Open heat, Gruendler topped McDonald and competed the inverted high-handstand, scoring a perfect 10, tying St. Leo, who scored the same in their Open heat. For the Pyramid event, Baylor scored a 29.70/30, while the Lions scored a 29.55/30.

At the half, BU was up 97.65/100 to St. Leo's 92.20/99.70, leading by 5.45 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 9.40/10, followed by an 8.90/9.40 from St. Leo. In the Synchronized heat, Washington and Gabby Kaminski were the tops, scoring 9.500/9.90, while the Lions had a score of 9.00/9.40. In the final heat, the Open heat, Kaminski was the top, scoring a 9.40/9.90 with her back-double, which St. Leo tied. At the end of the Toss event, Baylor totaled 28.30/29.80, while the Lions followed with a 27.30/28.50. Through four events, BU had a score of 125.950/129.80 while St. Leo had a 119.500/128.20, the Bears up by 6.45 points.

In the Tumbling event, starting in the Duo for the Bears were Thomas and Rendino, who scored a 9.15/10 on their roundoff whip Arabian to roundoff back handspring back layout 540, following a score of 8.90/9.75 from St. Leo. 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 9.30/10. The Lions put up 7.70/8.75 against in their heat. In the Quad pass were Washington, Aliyah Kaloostian, Sarah Kerr, and Kaminski, scoring a 9.50/10 for their front punch to roundoff back handspring back layout 540 roundoff back layout 360, while St. Leo put up a score of 7.60/8.00. For the Aerial pass, it was Thomas, who scored a 9.85/10 after competing a roundoff backhandsping back layout 540 roundoff whip back layout 360, while St. Leo earned an 8.75/9.25 score. Competing in the 6 Element heat was Kaloostian competing a punch front roundoff whip whip back handspring back layout 540, earning a 9.65/10 score; St. Leo earned a score of 9.325/9.55. Washington earned a 9.95/10 for the Open heat with a punch front roundoff back handspring back layout 540 roundoff back layout 360, with the Lions showing up with a 9.775/10. Combined, Baylor had a score of 57.40/60 to finish the Tumbling event while St. Leo had a score of 52.05/55.30. After five events, BU led 183.35/189.80 to 171.55/183.50, up by 11.8 points.

In the Team event, Baylor competed and scored 94.10/109.40. The Lions performed, scoring an 78.39/97.04.

The meet was finalized, and BU came out on top with a 277.45/299.20 score against St. Leo's 249.94/280.54; the Bears won by 27.51 points.

HIGHLIGHTS

  *   The highest score of the night was a perfect 10 in both the compulsory toss and open pyramid. These are the third and fourth perfect scores of the season but the first perfect scores in the compulsory and pyramid.
  *   The last time we had two 10s in the same meet was Frostburg State 3/22/23 in the compulsory toss and pyramid heat 1.
  *   The Bears scored their season-high scores in the compulsory toss and open pyramid and trio pass.
  *   BU is on a 46-meet winning streak.

To stay up to date all year long on all things Baylor acrobatics & tumbling, follow the team on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram: @BaylorAcroTumb.





- BaylorBears.com -




__________________________________

Madelon Allen | Associate Director of Athletics Communications
A&T, EQ, VB, BaylorBears.com
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 254-252-7168

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