Acrobatics and tumbling is all about the chances — both the ones you take…and the ones you don’t.
Ahead of No. 4 Oregon’s matchup with the No. 1 Bears, the air was filled with possibilities. The Ducks had the chance to grab a first top-10 win of the season on Senior Night. The Ducks had the chance to go above .500 for the first time since their opening meet — nearly two months ago. The Ducks had the chance to prove their credentials: ranked preseason as the No. 2 team in the nation, they hadn’t been able to finish meets, struggling in the team event and making mental mistakes.
“I think coming up to this meet, we trained really hard,” Oregon head coach Taylor Susnara said. “They worked really consistent in practice, so going into today, I joked with the team — I said [it’s] ‘survival of the fittest’, it’s head to head competition with one of the best programs in the NCATA right now.
Friday night was all about the chances not taken. “Unfortunately the scores didn’t fall our way and we didn’t execute as well as we maybe could have,” Susnara said.
The Ducks (2-3) weren’t able to take advantage of a crucial slip-up from their opponents and fell in their penultimate meet of the season, and lost out, 274.915-266.595, to Baylor. The Bears’ (8-0) now 35-meet winning streak continues into the 2024 postseason — a tournament Oregon will now have to fight to stay in contention to even appear in.
Leading the way for Baylor was NCATA Freshman of the Year candidates Payton Washington and Emily Bott. Both have won Freshman of the Week in 2024, while also receiving three honorable mentions. Washington, whose five scores above 9.75 in the return leg grabbed her a Freshman of the Week honor alongside three honorable mentions, posted a 9.875 in her solo pass, while Bott’s 9.800 in the same event highlighted a strong tumbling event for the Bears.
Top Jordan Gruendler and base Bayley Humphrey combined in the seven-element acro event to produce what might just be the most impressive skill in the sport of acrobatics and tumbling: dubbed the ‘Backbreaker’ by the Pac-12 commentary team, Gruendler extends from a hand-to-hand press to bend backwards, touching her toes to her hands in the air.
The Bears’ strongest heat, though, was a 9.900 in the open pyramid — one in which Oregon scored a perfect 10 last week against Hawaii Pacific. Susnara, though, defended her decision to take a chance and switch up the open pyramid (Oregon scored 9.85), saying on the halftime broadcast, “I think they crushed [the open pyramid] — they executed it really well. I’m really proud of them and definitely happy that we pulled that out.”
Both teams mostly cruised through the first half — despite a few wobbles, including top Mari Fukutomi in the six-element acro event, neither scored beneath a 9.000 except for an Oregon 8.55 in the compulsory tumbling heat. That’s vital: in a meet between two superpowers of the sport, any early mistakes that could be large deductions were avoided and the two were separated by just 2.05 points at the half. Susnara said on the broadcast, “I think we had little things here and there that [didn’t quite] go our way, but I think that we pulled it together and were able to finish strong”.
The second half had a similar opening, as both teams kept their scores above 9.45 throughout the toss heat. However, Baylor tumbler Savanna Cecil underrotated and slipped on the landing of her solo pass — the maximum deductible event in A&T. Duck tumbler Rickelle Henderson capitalized, cruising through her solo pass and cutting the Oregon to 1.25 points ahead of the team event.
The team event, characterized by slight wobbles, but no falls from either side, was the epitome of what Oregon’s season has been so far. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t quite good enough. The Ducks couldn’t make up the 1.25 point deficit, instead losing out by nearly seven points and slumping to 2-3 on the year, while the Bears kept their perfect season going.
“I think they did a really good job in compulsory event,” Susnara said. “I know that the scores didn’t necessarily reflect that, but I was really proud of their performance there — and then in team event, honestly, I think they did a really fantastic job. We practiced being together [and] having fun with each other and they did just that.”
Meanwhile, Oregon said goodbye to ten of its seniors —a group that Susnara called a lot of “big personalities, [and a] lot of fun. We were able to connect in pregame meal and shed a lot of tears there — happy tears,” she said. “I think that we have some big shoes to fill; all of them have touched the starting lineup and so we do have a really good recruiting class coming in, so I’m excited about that, and it’s going to be a new team.”
Oregon will move on to its final regular-season meet, a quick turnaround to next Tuesday against No. 6 Azusa Pacific, where it’ll have one more chance to keep itself in the top eight of the NCATA rankings and qualify for the National Championships. Baylor, meanwhile, finished its season in Eugene and will in all likelihood stick atop the rankings headed into Championship weekend.
One final chance.
