Oregon acrobatics and tumbling’s season came to a bittersweet end this weekend in Erie, Pennsylvania.
The No. 4 seeded Ducks were unable to best No. 1 seed Baylor on Saturday, losing the semifinal meet to their long-time rivals 281.410-277.725. The Bears went on to win their fourth straight national championship — the previous three national championship meets featured Oregon and Baylor.
Fortunately for Oregon, the team qualified for 14 0f 15 individual event finals on Sunday. Oregon was much more successful there, picking up event titles for six events.
Saturday’s meet was a hard-fought battle. The Ducks started off strong, eking out a 38.70-38.575 win in the compulsory event. Baylor bounced back in the Acro event with a 29.550-29.15 victory to grab the overall lead.
Oregon went on to win the Pyramid event 29.70-29.65, and followed that up with a narrow 29.325-29.275 get in the Toss event.
Baylor won the Tumbling event 58.250-56.575 to open up their largest lead of the night going into the Team event.
While the Ducks could have made up the less than two-point deficit, those hopes were dashed when Caroline Matos fell, landing awkwardly. The junior had to be carried off by trainers, but the Ducks didn’t have much time to collect themselves before finishing the event.
Ultimately, the Bears took the team event 96.110-94.300 to seal their victory and eliminate the Ducks.
Despite the loss, Ducks head coach Keenyn Won said that she was still proud of her team, and described their recovery from the Matos injury as something she’d never experienced before in her career.
Perhaps some of that momentum and fire carried over to Sunday, where the Ducks turned in six title-worthy performances.
The team’s first win of the night came in the five element acro heat, followed by a victory in the synchronized pyramid heat – just the program’s second of all time.
The Ducks continued their run, grabbing their fourth win in as many years in the 450 salto toss. They also picked up the win in the synchronized toss.
After Baylor won the first four heats of the tumbling event, Oregon bounced back to snatch the title in the six-element tumbling heat. Taylor Galvin, a senior, concluded her career with a perfect 10 in the open tumbling pass – her fourth in a row.
Galvin also picked up an All-American award for the third consecutive year, while Casi Jackson also received the award.
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