In just its second year of existence, the Oregon women’s acrobatics and tumbling team will host the National Collegiate Acrobatics and Tumbling Association National Championships, which are set to begin this evening at Matthew Knight Arena.
The Ducks, who posted a 6-1 regular season record, earned the No. 1 seed in the six-team, single-elimination field, and they will look to defend their home court at 8 p.m. Friday night.
Oregon welcomes defending national champion Maryland as the No. 2 seed, followed by No. 3 Azusa Pacific, No. 4 Baylor, No. 5 Fairmont State and No. 6 Quinnipiac. Seeding for the national championships were determined by the teams’ average overall meet scores, which were calculated from each squad’s four highest meet totals, with two of those being earned at away events.
Baylor and Fairmont State will kick off the competition in a head-to-head match this evening; then Azusa Pacific and Quinnipiac will close out the opening round immediately after.
The Terrapins, who went undefeated at 8-0 this season (including a victory over Oregon on March 24), also earned a first round bye, and they will take on the winner of the Azusa Pacific/Quinnipiac matchup Friday night.
Oregon will then make its first appearance against the winner of the Baylor and Fairmont State contest, and then individual event finals and the team championship will take place Saturday evening.
On that final day, the four teams with the highest scores in each of the four skill events — stunt, basket toss, pyramid and tumbling — will compete. Those marks were earned during the regular season at NCATA-sanctioned competitions.
Here’s a quick look at each of the six teams competing:
No. 1 Oregon Ducks
Coming off a third-place finish at last year’s NCA Collegiate National Championships in Daytona Beach, Fla., the second-year Oregon program picked up momentum under the newly sanctioned NCATA meet format. The Ducks began the year with a five-meet winning streak, including a perfect 2-0 mark at home, before they fell to reigning national champion Maryland in College Park.
Oregon quickly bounced back with a win over Fairmont State on the road to close out the regular season, and it has spent the last couple weeks preparing for a big return to Matthew Knight Arena. The Ducks earned the top seed by scoring 285.771 points on average, which gave them the first-round bye.
In the individual events, Oregon will be competing as the top seed in the stunts and basket toss, as well as the No. 2 seed in tumbling and No. 3 seed in pyramids.
No. 2 Maryland Terrapins
Standing directly in the way of Oregon taking home the crown is defending national champion Maryland, who cruised through the regular season with an 8-0 bid. With 17 upperclassmen on the roster, the Terps will be looking to improve on last season’s impressive finish where they took the All-Girl championship trophy in addition to the Grand National championship (coed) hardware.
Fifth-year head coach Jarnell Bonds, a 2002 Maryland graduate, has led the Terps to four NCA national titles in five years (2006, 2007, 2008, 2010), but she will be competing for a championship for the first time under the new format.
In the individual finals, Maryland will compete as the No. 4 seed in the stunt, No. 3 seed in the basket toss and No. 1 seed in the tumbling. The Terps also hold the NCATA season-high event scores in compulsories (39.79), tumbling (56.42) and the team routine (107.42).
No. 3 Azusa Pacific Cougars
The third-seeded Cougars enter the tournament as one of two opposing teams who have competed in Eugene this season. Azusa Pacific ended the regular season with a 3-4 record, and considering its 15 new additions to the roster this season, APU put together a competitive resume.
Under the direction of fifth-year head coach Colleen Kausrud, the Cougars will look to pull off the upset and improve on their sixth-place finish at the NCA Collegiate Nationals in 2009. For the season, APU averaged 277.763 points in its top two home and away meets, and it defeated Fairmont State and Quinnipiac at home during the regular season.
No. 4 Baylor Bears
It was a bit of a shaky season at times for the Baylor squad, who capped the regular season with a 2-5 record in its inaugural season with the NCATA. When Baylor approved competitive cheer for the 11th women’s sport in July 2009, it became the first Big 12 program to implement a varsity competitive cheer program.
Baylor, along with Maryland (ACC) and Oregon (Pac-10) are the only three Bowl Champion Series members nationally.
With 1999 Sam Houston State graduate Karry Forsythe heading the program, the Bears were able to tally a 276.681 average to secure the tournament’s fourth seed. What Baylor does lack, however, is experience. The Bears’ 27-member roster comprises one senior, two juniors, one sophomore and 23 freshmen, which will make getting past the second round all the more challenging.
No. 5 Fairmont State Falcons
The 2011 campaign was a rough one for Fairmont State as the team picked up just a single victory, against sixth-seeded Quinnipiac on Feb. 5, en route to a 1-6 season overall. The Falcons dropped all three of their home meets to Baylor, Maryland and Oregon, respectively, and they will enter Thursday’s competition with a three-meet losing skid fresh in their minds.
Fairmont State did post a 1-1 record in neutral site competitions this season, but it will certainly have its hands full with an equally capable Baylor squad tonight.
No. 6 Quinnipiac Bobcats
Despite posting a 1-5 record during the regular season, the Bobcats were particularly competitive in their final outing against undefeated Maryland on March 26.
Quinnipiac posted season-high scores in the stunt event (28.60) and overall score (279.786), but it was unable to catch the Terrapins down the stretch, despite winning all three events in the first half for the first time in 2011.
Highlighting the Quinnipiac roster is sophomore flyer Christina Lasto, who broke her own national record with a perfect 10 out of 10 in the basket toss against Maryland. Five days before setting that mark, Lasto became the national leader with a 9.15 out of 9.20 at home against top-seeded Oregon.
In 12th-year head coach Mary Ann Powers’ career, the best postseason outcome came during the 2007 season when the Bobcats finished fifth place in the All-Girl Division I competition.
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