BELMONT, N.C. – The Belmont Abbey acrobatics and tumbling team opened the 2022 season in a home meet against Limestone Thursday at the Wheeler Center. The Saints came away with the 270.975-257.185 victory and moved to 2-0 on the season.

The Crusaders set new program highs in three of the four heats of the Compulsory Event: pyramid (9.65), toss (9.65) and tumbling (8.85). They followed that up with a 9.35-8.20 advantage in the 6-element portion of the Acro event. They also matched the second-highest score in team history in the Synchronized Pyramid heat.

After winning the Conference Carolinas Event Championship in 2021 in the Open Toss heat, the Crusaders opened the season with a score of 8.3 In the trio pass, Molly Hanley, Aspen Terrell and Erena Chaples combined to set a new program-high with a score of 8.7. That was followed up with another top mark set in the quad pass with an 8.1 by the team of Deanna Woolard, Blythe Terrell, Braylen Mitchell and Julia Conger.

Hanley and Desi Yordanova put together strong performances in their respective heats in the individual tumbling event. Hanley scored a 9.225 in the 6-element pass while Yordanova set a new program-high in the open pass with a 9.7.

The Abbey closed the event strong with a 93.16 in the team event, which is a new program record.  

UP NEXT
The Crusaders head on the road to face Coker on Feb. 19 at 2 p.m. in Hartsville, S.C.