Fairmont, W.Va. – The West Liberty University acrobatics & tumbling team concluded the 2024 season with five heats competing in the MEC Event Finals on Saturday morning in Joe Retton Arena. Leading the way for the Hilltoppers was Kayla Gandy who claimed the MEC Aerial Tumbling Championship by way of a school-record score in the tiebreaker round, securing her first conference title in the event and fourth of her career overall at the MEC Event Finals.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The first heat of the day to feature West Liberty was the Seven-Element Acro, as the team of Kayla Gandy, Abbey Horvath, Chloe Palmer, Abbey Swinderman, and Peyton Fry, earned a third place finish with a score of 8.125.
• The lone pyramid heat of the day featuring the Hilltoppers, the Synchronized Pyramid, saw the team of Gandy, Horvath, Palmer, Avery Ray, Katelyn Emborsky, Kylinn Hartman, Gabby Guldin, Swinderman, Liz Poling, Fry, and Maryn Donnelly record a third place finish with a score of 9.525.
• In the first of three tumbling heats that featured WLU, the Quad Tumbling, the group of Elle Godby, Caitlin Lowery, Olivia Kniola, and Swinderman, posted a score of 7.875 for third place.
• After Kayla Gandy and Frostburg State's Sydney Green posted identical scores of 9.575 in Aerial Tumbling, they went to a tiebreaker round where Gandy held the upper hand to win the title with a school-record performance of 9.650 compared to 8.975 for Green.
• Rounding out the day for West Liberty in the MEC Event Finals was Gillian Hartz in the Six-Element Tumbling where she earned a second place finish with a score of 9.100.