Decade of Dominance

Since the judges didn’t give top-seeded Baylor acrobatics & tumbling a perfect 10.0 score in the 2025 NCATA national championship final on April 26 at the Elmen Center in Sioux Falls, S.D., the Bears just went out and got their own 10.

Breaking open a tight meet by dominating the closing team event, Baylor (12-0) defeated No. 2 seed Oregon, 276.015 to 266.355, to win its 10th consecutive NCATA national championship.

“This was not an easy championship to win, and I don’t want anyone to think that,” said Baylor Coach Felecia Mulkey, who has now won all national championships that NCATA has handed out, winning her first four at Oregon.

“I don’t remember there being any major mistakes … That was not easy, that was anybody’s game. We had to go out and hit to win.”

The Bears did just that, winning 14 of the 19 heats and leading by just over two points going into the team event.

“I just felt overly relaxed today,” said senior base Bailey Baughn. “I think in our four years, this is the most prepared that we’ve been for a championship. Honestly, as we were going through each individual event, I was like, ‘Oh, okay, let’s just go out there and do our job. It’s just like practice, just go out there and do your job.’’’

Even with a couple mishaps, the Bears still dominated the team event to finally create separation in their sixth matchup against the Ducks (7-3) in an NCATA final.

“I knew that if we could just hang on [in tumbling] with how we had been scoring, we would do well,” Mulkey said. 

Baylor did win the tumbling event by the slimmest margin of just 0.05 points. It was enough to give the Bears a lead of 2.100 going into the team event.

“All year long, you build up to this moment,” said senior tumbler Aliyah Kaloostian. “And knowing that we hadn’t necessarily peaked, that was so exciting going in against Oregon for the third time. We knew what we had to do, and we went out there and did it.”

In the individual event titles, Baylor A&T added nine individual heat trophies, topping the previous season-best of eight.

Adding to its historical run, Baylor fans flexed their support for A&T earlier in the year, setting the all-time NCATA attendance record in Baylor’s regular season finale against Oregon on April 5, packing in 2,351 fans to the Ferrell Center and posting the most ever 10.0 scores in a meet with five.