NASHVILLE, Tenn. — In a back-and-forth affair that saw four ties and two lead changes, the No. 12 St. Mary's University STUNT team ended up on the short side of the scoring column, falling to No. 7 Purdue Northwest in the third round of the STUNT National Championship, 18-16 on Friday.
In each of the four quarters, Head Coach
Jordan VanTimmeren rolled the dice and called one of the hardest routines available, calling six in partner stunts, seven in pyramids & tosses, seven in jumps & tumbling and seven in the team routine, and the Lions forfeited all of them, making the Rattlers go against the standard, instead of head-to-head. That philosophy paid off for PNW, as StMU scored only one of the six available points, keeping the score low. In three of the five routines, the Rattlers were within minor deductions of earning the points.
The Rattlers scored one point in the other three routines of the first quarter, winning four outright after dropping minor decisions on rounds one and three.
St. Mary's took over the lead, winning within two on routines one and four, and the clubs tied on routine three for the 8-7 halftime lead.
The Lions outscored the Rattlers 3-1 in the third quarter to take back the lead, 10-9 after jumps & tumblings.
The Rattlers tied the score by earning a point in the third section of routine seven, but PNW outscored them 5-2 on routine 1 for the 15-12 advantage. The Rattlers got one back on routine five, scoring four points for the 18-16 final, and the Lions called routine eight on their final choice, and both teams forfeited all three sections.
Purdue Northwest went on to upset #6 Concordia Irvine in the next round, advancing to Saturday's quarterfinals, where they'll face No. 4 DBU.
St. Mary's wraps up the fourth season of competition with a 10-13 overall record and made history with its first-ever win at the national championship on Thursday. The Rattlers say goodbye to an amazing group of seniors in
Alecka Brown (Helotes, Texas),
Kailey Carder (San Antonio),
Morgan Cassias (San Antonio),
Sydnye Forde-Richins (Houston),
Tiffany Gomez (El Paso, Texas),
M'Lynn Griego (Jourdanton, Texas),
Izabella Grinnell (Pasco, Wash.),
Victoria Gutierrez (Laredo, Texas),
Sanaa Johnson (Helotes),
Courtney McClellan (New Braunfels, Texas),
Jocelyn Mendez (Mission, Texas),
Yanelle Nicholson (Helotes),
Riley Smith (Canyon Lake, Calif.), and
Isabel Soto (San Antonio).
