West Liberty, W.Va. – Not one, not two, but five school records fell in the home finale for West Liberty acrobatics & tumbling on Saturday afternoon as they topped East Stroudsburg by a score of 259.450-237.070. The Hilltoppers sent seniors, Elle Godby, Chloe Palmer, Katelyn Emborsky, Paige Lawrence, Caitlin Lowery, Gabby Guldin, Olivia Kniola, and Abbey Swinderman, out with a victory in their final meet inside the ASRC as the team swept all six events while also posting 11 heat scores of 9.0 or better.
 
QUICK DETAILS
Final Score: West Liberty 259.450, East Stroudsburg 237.070
Team Records: West Liberty 4-5 (2-3 MEC), East Stroudsburg 3-5
Attendance: 325
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• West Liberty seized the lead immediately with a 36.850-32.300 win in the compulsory event, aided by three scores of 9.650 or better. The Hilltoppers posted scores of 9.650 in the acro heat, 9.800 in the pyramid heat, 9.700 in the toss heat, and 7.700 in the tumbling heat. The compulsory acro group of Avery Ray, Katelyn Emborsky, Gillian Hartz, Audrey Prater, Kayla Gandy, Abbey Horvath, Peyton Fry, and Abbey Swinderman notched the first school record of the day with the score of 9.650.
• The Hilltoppers narrowly edged the Warriors with a 27.450-27.300 win in the acro event as they recorded a pair of 9.0 or better scores. WLU posted a score of 8.700 in the 5-element heat, 9.300 in the 6-element heat, and 9.450 in the 7-element heat. The second school record of the day occurred in the 6-element heat, which saw Ray, Emborsky, Hartz, Prater, Kallie Moses, Gabby Guldin, Liz Poling, and Elle Godby competing and recording the score of 9.300.
• The Black & Gold used a 29.250-25.700 win in the pyramid event to extend their overall lead to 93.550-85.300 at the halftime break. West Liberty posted scores of 9.7 or better in all three of the heats, including a 9.700 in the inversion heat, 9.700 in the synchronized heat, and 9.850 in the open heat. The 9.700 mark in the inversion heat matched a season-best score with Gandy, Abbey Horvath, Chloe Palmer, Fry, Guldin, Swinderman, Poling, and Emborsky competing for the Hilltoppers.
• Out of the halftime break West Liberty extended their lead once again with a 26.450-24.800 win in the toss event. During the event the Hilltoppers posted scores of 8.500 in the 450 salto heat, 9.050 in the synchronized heat, and 8.900 in the open heat. With Gandy, Liv Kniola, Swinderman, Horvath, Abigail Salzman, Ray, Emborsky, Prater, Paige Lawrence, and Savannah Turner-Davis participating in the synchronized heat, they were the third group to break a school record with the event's lone score of 9.0 or better at 9.050.
• The Hilltoppers notched a commanding 52.750-45.350 win in the tumbling event, which included scores of 8.500 in the duo pass, 8.000 in the trio pass, 8.600 in the quad pass, 9.625 in the aerial pass, 9.175 in the 6-element pass, and 8.850 in the open pass. The first of two school records in this event occurred in the quad pass with Gandy, Hartz, Prater, and Ray earning the 8.600 score while Gandy notched the program-best 9.625 mark in the aerial pass.
• WLU earned the clean sweep of all six events as they ended the day with an 86.700-81.620 win in the team event.

UP NEXT
West Liberty ends the regular season at 4-5 (2-3 MEC) and is currently fourth place in the conference standings with two weeks remaining in the league schedule. The top-4 teams in the MEC advance to the conference tournament, April 12-13, hosted by the league's top seed. The Hilltoppers will also await the selections of the individual event qualifiers with the top-3 teams in each heat of the acro, pyramid, toss, and tumbling events qualifying for the conference championships.