BELMONT, N.C. – The Belmont Abbey acrobatics and tumbling team closed out the regular season by hosting Converse in a Conference Carolinas meet Saturday at the Wheeler Center.
 
The Crusaders battled but it was the Valkyries who came away with a 257.345-245.815 victory.
 
Belmont Abbey closed the season at 6-4 overall and 5-3 in Conference Carolinas. Converse finishes the regular season at 8-2 overall, 6-2 in the league.
 
Following the meet, the Crusaders honored four seniors that have been part of the inaugural team since the beginning of the program: Christina Osmera, Desislava Yordanova, Lauren Stephens and Molly Hanley.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Crusaders earned 34 points during the Compulsory Event with the two best scores coming in the Pyramid (9.70) and Toss (9.35) heats.
 
Belmont Abbey followed that with a 9.55/10 and 9.5/10 in Acro Heats 2 and 3, respectively. Yordanova competed with Anna Davis in both heats and teamed up with Deanna Woolard and Lauren Pipes for the second heat. Hanley and Aspen Terrell composed of the rest of the team in the third heat.
 
The strongest event of the day came in the Pyramid event, where the Crusaders earned three scores of 9.0 or better in each event. Belmont Abbey scored a 9.3/10 in Heat 1, 9.25/9.8 in Heat 2 and 9.6/10 in the third heat.
 
Belmont Abbey's best score in the Toss Event came in the final heat with a 9.45/9.9.
 
Hanley and Yordanova put together two of the stronger individual performances for Belmont Abbey with a 9.05/9.55 in the 6 Element Pass and a 9.7/10 in the Open Pass, respectively.
 
Belmont Abbey closed the meet with an 82.94 in the team event.

UP NEXT
The Crusaders will be the No. 4 seed for the Conference Carolinas Championship set to take place April 9-10 in Bristol, Tennessee.