FAIRMONT, W.Va. – Fairmont State completed a three-peat by edging Frostburg State, 256.695-255.550, on Saturday afternoon in the finals of the Mountain East Conference Acrobatics & Tumbling Championships at Joe Retton Arena. The win helped the Falcons improve to 8-1 on the year.


 
Frostburg State, a second-year acrobatics & tumbling program who ended the year with an impressive 6-4 overall record, took the first four events on Saturday to grab an early advantage. The Bobcat’s first half performance was highlighted by a 9.600 in the inversion pyramid, a 9.525 in the open pyramid, and a 9.500 in the open toss. The Bobcats outscored the Falcons in six heats during the first half, and the teams tied in two others.
 
Frostburg was also victorious in the toss event by a 27.200-26.375 margin and led 119.100-116.075 with just two events remaining. The Bobcats scored a 9.50 in the open toss to highlight the event.
 
Fairmont State took the tumbling event by a 54.400-52.650 margin to pull the meet to within two points at 171.750-170.475. The Falcons outscored the Bobcats in four of the six tumbling heats, including high-scoring individual passes in the six-element and open heats. Sophia Del Greco landed a 9.675 in the six-element pass, and the 2022 Mountain East Conference Athlete of the Year Alexis Smith scored a meet-high with a 9.85 in her open tumbling pass to cap the tumbling event.

Frostburg State’s Abbie Baker, a first-team All-MEC selection for the Bobcats, also had an impressive weekend at the MEC Tournament, including turning in a score of 9.550 in the aerial tumbling pass during the championship final.
 
With the narrow margin following five events, the meet came down to team event. The top-seeded Falcons closed out the win with an 86.220-83.800 scoring edge in team event – earning their third-consecutive MEC tournament crown.
 
In addition to the championship final in the afternoon, the MEC also held individual event finals on Saturday morning. Frostburg State led all programs with seven individual event titles, winning the six-element acro, seven-element acro, inversion pyramid, open pyramid, synchronized toss, open toss and duo tumbling.
 
Fairmont State brought home three individual titles in addition to their team championship, including event championships in trio tumbling, quad tumbling and open tumbling.
 
West Liberty matched Fairmont State’s total with three individual event titles (five-element acro, aerial tumbling and six-element tumbling), and West Virginia Wesleyan took home two trophies in the synchronized pyramid and 450 salto toss.
 
Fairmont State is currently ranked No. 7 in the NCATA National Championship Rankings. The eight-team NCATA Tournament bracket will be released on Monday afternoon by the association.