APU and Oregon go head to head in Acrobatics and Tumbling as the Ducks just edged out the Cougars
Azusa Pacific’s acrobatics and tumbling squad hosted the University of Oregon on Thursday night. The Cougars fell just short, dropping the contest 281.300 – 277.390.
Acro and tumbling meets are set up into 6 total events — compulsory, acro, pyramid, toss, tumbling and team — and 20 total heats. Each team faces off head-to-head as the judges score who they believe executed the given skill the best.
In the first event, compulsory, both teams started strong but the Ducks did slightly better, scoring 38.60 to APU’s 37.60.
The Cougars headed into the acrobatic phase down by one. The Cougars fought back in the five acro element event as sophomore Hannah Alanzo and junior Jessica Gill looked like they outperformed the Ducks, but the judges didn’t agree. Much of the crowd in attendance was upset with the ruling. Oregon claimed victory in the event 29.20-28.75.
In the pyramid event, the Cougars won their first sub-heat, the inversion pyramid, but ultimately the judges gave the Ducks a slight advantage in points, 29.05-28.95.
After the first three events, halftime came with Oregon leading APU 96.850-95.300. The Cougars knew they weren’t out of it yet as even the slightest fractions of points hold a lot of weight in the total outcome.
The second half began with the toss event, which came down to just five-one-hundredths of a point. The Cougars took the synchronized toss heat, but the Ducks were favored by the judges, taking the heat 28.85 to 28.80.
Next came the tumbling event, which the Cougars are historically top of the nation in. The Cougars shined as they took the quad and aerial heats, beating Oregon in the event 56.65 to 56.60. APU’s athleticism was seen in this event as juniors Gill and Beth Magee both scored in the high nines.
Going into the last event, the team event, it was still anyone’s game. The Ducks took the mat first and scored a 99.0. The Cougars executed well, but not as strong as Oregon, as APU notched a 96.64 in the event. They ended the meet just four points behind the Ducks, dropping the contest 281.300 – 277.390.
APU is now 2-1 on the season and have nearly a month before their next meet. The Cougars next contest is on the road against East Texas Baptist on March 26.