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<b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#242424">BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – March 8, 2025<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="color:#242424"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><b><span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:#242424">No. 1 Baylor A&T Overpowers Missouri State<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><b><i><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black">Mulkey earns 100<sup>th</sup> Baylor win</span></i></b><b><i><span style="font-size:10.5pt"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><b><i><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:#242424"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#242424">For more information contact:
</span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#242424">Madelon Allen; 254-252-7168,
</span><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:blue"><a href="mailto:madelon_allen@baylor.edu">madelon_allen@baylor.edu</a></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#242424">
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="color:#242424"> </span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#242424"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><b><span style="color:#242424">SPRINGFIELD, Mo. –
</span></b><span style="color:#242424">The No. 1-ranked Baylor acrobatics & tumbling team came up with a momentous win against Missouri State, 278.580 to 205.055.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="color:#242424"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;background:white"><span style="color:#242424">The Bears (5-0) defeated the Bears (0-5) by 73.525 points to increase the winning streak to 43 meets and give head coach Felecia Mulkey her 100<sup>th</sup> Baylor
win. BU started the meet with a 45.95-point advantage in start value up on MoState.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;background:white"><span style="color:#242424"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;background:white"><span style="color:#242424">To start off the meet in Compulsory, BU and the Bears all executed the required skills with a start value of 10 in each heat. In the Acro heat, Baylor scored a 9.40
and MoState followed with a 7.35. BU took the Pyramid heat, 9.60 to 8.70. Winning the Toss heat by 0.85 points, Baylor scored a 9.80 followed by State’s 8.95. In the Tumbling heat, BU scored an 8.55, the Bears scoring a 2. Through one event, the score was
37.35 to MoState’s 27, up by 10.35 points.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;background:white"><span style="color:#242424"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;background:white"><span style="color:#242424">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 top first and Leavy McDonald
as the base, competing a high press, then Jordan Gruendler stepping in and performing the high handstand to straddle, scoring a 9.9/10. The Bears followed with a 7.35/9 score in their heat. In the synchronized 6 Element heat, with four different pairs of tops
and bases (Aliyah Thomas/Meredith Wells, Payton Washington/Addi Grandy, Charlyze Hemby/Wells and Makayla Vasquez/Josie Sutter), the Baylor Bears scored a 9.6/10, followed by 7.9/8.55 from MoState. Washington and Thomas competed a high press, lowered and pop-around,
before Vasquez and Hemby compete the inverted handstand. In the third heat, Gruendler and McDonald scored a 9.75/10 after competing a new skill and a new combination of skills – the stacked-hands handstand, then the one-arm stacked hands handstand, before
Gruendler competes the “ring” while McDonald slides to splits and rotates to straddle. They are the only duo to compete these elements in the country. Missouri State followed it up with a score of 8/9.30 in its heat. For the Acro event, BU scored a 29.25/30
to the Bears’ 23.25/26.85, now totaling 66.60 to 50.25 through two events and Baylor leading by 16.35 points.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;background:white"><span style="color:#242424"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;background:white"><span style="color:#242424">In the Pyramid event, BU started it off with a 9.95/10 score in the Inversion heat with Gruendler and McDonald with the one-handed handstand, and MoState followed with
a 9.60/10. Topping the Synchronized heat were Washington and Bott, based by mid-level bases McDonald and Wells, respectively. They scored a 9.90/10 on their high walk-in to high hands, while the Bears produced a 8.85/9.50. In the Open heat, Gruendler topped
McDonald and competed the inverted high-handstand, scoring a 9.95/10, which MoState followed with an 8.90/9.50 in their Open heat. For the Pyramid event, Baylor scored a 29.80/30, while Missouri State scored a 27.35/29.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;background:white"><span style="color:#242424"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;background:white"><span style="color:#242424">At the half, BU was up 96.40/100 to 77.60/95.85, leading by 18.80 points.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;background:white"><span style="color:#242424"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;background:white"><span style="color:#242424">To kick off the second half in the Toss event, it was Washington topping the Salto heat, finishing with a score of 9.5/10, followed by a 8.7/9 from Missouri State.
In the Synchronized heat, Washington and Gabby Kaminski were the tops, scoring 9.45/9.90 which the Bears followed with a score of 8.20/8.80. In the final heat, the Open heat, Thomas was the top, scoring a 9.15/9.90, which MoState scored an 8.35/9.25 against.
At the end of the Toss event, Baylor totaled 28.10/29.80 while Missouri State had a 25.25/27.05. Through four events, BU had a score of 124.500/129.80 while Missouri State had a 102.85/122.90, the Baylor Bears up by 21.65 points.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;background:white"><span style="color:#242424"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;background:white"><span style="color:#242424">In the Tumbling event, starting in the Duo for the Bears were Thomas and Gigi Rendino who scored a 9.25/10 on their roundoff whip arabian roundoff back handspring back
layout 540 pass, followed by a score of 6.50/7.25 from MoState. In the Trio were Bott, Nova Schmit and Madden Werner, competing a roundoff back handspring back layout 540 to roundoff whip back layout 360, earning a score of 6.95/10 which the Bears put a 6.0/6.75
up against. In the Quad pass were Washington, Aliyah Kaloostian, Sarah Kerr and Kaminski, scoring a 9.50/10 for their punch front back handspring back layout 540 roundoff back layout 360 pass, while Missouri State put up a score of 7.05/8. For the Aerial pass
it was Thomas, who scored a 9.80/10 after competing a roundoff whip arabian roundoff back handspring back layout 540 pass, while MoState earned a 8.55/8.75 score. Competing in the 6 Element heat was Bott competing a roundoff triple whip back handspring back
layout 540 pass, earning a 9.75/10 score; Missouri State earning a score of 8.00/8.35. Washington earned her first perfect 10 on a solo tumbling pass for the Open heat with a punch front round off back handspring back layout 540 roundoff back layout 360, with
the Bears’ 7.775/8.0. Combined, Baylor had a score of 55.25/60 to finish the Tumbling event while the Bears had a score of 43.875/47.10. After five events, BU led 179.75/189.80 to 146.725/170, up by 33.025 points.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;background:white"><span style="color:#242424"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;background:white"><span style="color:#242424">In Team event, Baylor competed first and scored a 98.83/109.18. The Bears came next, scoring a 58.33/83.03 in their first-ever Team Event.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;background:white"><span style="color:#242424"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="color:#242424">The meet finalized, BU came out on top with a 278.580/298.98 score against Missouri State’s 205.055/243.03; the Bears winning by 73.525 points.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="color:#242424"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><b><span style="color:#242424">HIGHLIGHTS<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc">
<li class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="color:#242424;margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;background:white">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">It marked head coach Felecia Mulkey’s 100<sup>th</sup> career win at Baylor.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="color:#242424;margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;background:white">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Sophomore Payton Washington earned a perfect 10/10 in her Open Tumbling pass.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="color:#242424;margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;background:white">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Jordan Gruendler and Leavy McDonald debuted the stacked hands one-handed handstand and the “ring” on top of a slide to split and straddle in Acro H3.<o:p></o:p></span></li></ul>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;background:white"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#242424"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="color:#242424">To stay up to date all year long on all things Baylor acrobatics & tumbling, follow the team on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram: @BaylorAcroTumb.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="color:#242424"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;background:white"><i><span style="color:#242424">- BaylorBears.com -<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">__________________________________</span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:6.5pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"> </span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#385623;mso-ligatures:none">Madelon Allen</span></b><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#385623;mso-ligatures:none"> </span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">| </span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">Associate
Director of Athletics Communications <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">A&T, EQ, VB, BaylorBears.com</span><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">Department of Athletics | Baylor University<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">C: 254-252-7168<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none"><img border="0" width="159" height="44" style="width:1.6562in;height:.4583in" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.png@01DB905F.09D15C10" alt="signature_2383716729"></span><o:p></o:p></p>
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