MARSHALL, Texas – Set to begin their second year as a program, the East Texas Baptist University acrobatics and tumbling team will host their first meet of the season on Sunday. They will start the 2020 season against the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor who is in their first year as a program.
ETBU returns 10 members from a squad that won one meet in their inaugural season in
Madisen Bauwens,
Rani Bentley,
Emily Buffington,
Anna Gaddis,
Yasmin Hamilton,
Alyssa Hepburn,
Claire Rizzo,
Sarah Stanford,
Hailey Strole, and
Emily Williams. Joining the team this season are 15 newcomers including junior
Diana Garcia, sophomore
Hannah Hicks, and 13 freshmen.
Having gone through their first year as a team, head coach
Farrah Dunaway feels her team has an understanding of what to expect in the upcoming season. "One of the major differences in the offseason is that this not as foreign to me," said Dunaway. "Having one year under my belt as a coach has helped extremely. I'm just trying to learn my process in what I'm doing in preseason and what I'm doing to build practices, to keep players safe and work up strategies on how to get the best or maximum score out of our start value. And with the returners, they have one year experience, too. That's huge, too, because now, I have one set of athletes that I can just say 'hey, I need this to happen over in this corner of the mat,' and they can actually do that. I have leaders now that can help that. So it's nice to see the role the returners play in the process."
For the second straight season, ETBU opens their season in Ornelas Gym and they look forward to performing in front of their fans. "I think just being at home and having the comfort of your house is key anyway," said Dunaway. "The team's excited to have their peers watch them because it's a new sport. They're excited to be able to perform at home so that they're fans and the support system see the vast difference that it is and be educated as to what the sport is. They're proud of who they're competing for. They're proud of being part of East Texas Baptist University and they can't wait to compete and show off in their house."
ETBU will have their match with UMHB at 4:00 PM on Sunday at Ornelas Gymnasium.
