Destiny is a strange concept. Sports are as they are because of the lack of a predetermined future. Fans quip that ‘This was destined to happen’ in the most improbable of circumstances. Every year, Warren Buffett offers up $1,000,000,000 to anyone who fills out a perfect NCAA Tournament bracket — and no one has claimed the money. Fate…isn’t real.
But Oregon and Baylor were destined to meet like this.
In the world of acrobatics and tumbling, Oregon and Baylor are inevitably intertwined. It’s not just the 12 titles (every single one in NCATA history) that the two programs share. It’s not just the coach (Felecia Mulkey) who brought those championships. It’s not just the preseason 1-2 pairing that set up this battle in Eugene.
It’s 13 years of history.
Acrobatics and tumbling is on its way to becoming an NCAA sport, but in 2007, Mulkey cold-called Oregon to propose a “team stunts and gymnastics” team, she told The Athletic. That became one program, then ten, then the nearly 60 that compete across various levels today. Led by “Coach Fee”, the Ducks captured the first four national titles before their coach departed for Waco, Texas and the Bears.
In Texas, Mulkey has led Baylor to an unprecedented eight-straight National College Acrobatics and Tumbling Association (NCATA) championships. Her main challenger? Oregon. Now helmed by UO graduate (and former A&T All-American) Taylor Susnara, the Ducks are faced with the unenviable challenge of dethroning the queens of a sport.
Their rivals’ road to this moment is long — it winds through 33-straight meets that the Bears have won. Of course, their last loss was handed to them in Eugene, in 2021. Earlier this year, Oregon’s trip to Texas ended in Duck defeat — a loss that sent it on a two-meet losing streak — a third of its season. On April 5, the return trip will define this year — one more defeat will almost certainly keep the Ducks away from a high seed that Susnara said was so important to her, and force another early meeting with the Bears in April’s NCATA Championships.
Once 40 A&T teams reach the 18-member threshold and compete in six or more meets, the sport will be considered for NCAA Championship status — something that Mulkey, Susnara and their competitors are fighting hard for. “The number 40 (referring to varsity programs) will get us to championship status, which, I will celebrate that day as well,” Mulkey told the Wacoan. “But the whole reason for starting this sport was to create opportunities for female athletes to compete at the college level.”
Since then, the sport has only grown further, but Mulkey isn’t holding back. “If we stopped at 40,” she said, “We’d be limiting those numbers again. If our goal is to create constant opportunities, we’re gonna keep adding.”
Led by Susnara and program alumna Karly Nowak, Oregon trains its athletes in physical and mental strength. They might be balanced three athletes-tall on one hand, but equally vital is the team’s ability to get itself in the best possible headspace.
Meets, which last around 90 minutes, present a unique challenge for A&T competitors. Not every athlete is present on the floor all of the time (in fact, some are limited to one or two of the six events), but staying engaged is vital. In all but one meet that Oregon has competed this season so far, it has entered the final event trailing.
That’s not a huge concern from a scoring perspective; the final event, which features (nearly) the entire team in a 2:45 chaotic routine, is usually worth around 100 points — roughly a third of the available points in the meet. It comes, though, at the end of an hour and a half of tiring competition, and any trip, fall or stumble means points off the team’s score. As long as a team keeps the score close through five events, it has a chance to win.
That’s the name of the game when Oregon welcomes its rival to town on April 5. The Ducks lost the initial leg, 278.935 to 271.835, but entered the team event trailing by under a point, where Oregon couldn’t match the near-perfect performance that Baylor offered up and lost out by 7.1 points.
It’ll all come down to the Ducks’ ability to perform — Oregon can’t do anything to affect Baylor’s ability to perform once its athletes are on the mat. It’s all down to ability — and just a little bit of destiny.
