MARSHALL, Texas – Taking two events in their third meet of the 2024 season, East Texas Baptist University improved on their final score but came up shy of upsetting NCAA Division II East Stroudsburg University, 252.92 to 227.565. Heading into halftime, ETBU was down just over six points, 89.90 to 83.05, but ESU scored better in the final two events pulling away from the Tigers. ETBU is now 1-2 on the year.
 
ETBU boasted four 9.0+ scores and seven 8.0+ scores in the meet. They had two 9.0+ in the compulsory event, one in the pyramid event, and one in tumbling.
 
ESU opened the meet with an almost four-point lead in Compulsory, 36.35 to 32.45. ETBU scored a 9.55 in the pyramid heat and the toss heat for two of their four 9.0+ scores on the night. ESU then took an almost 10-point lead after the Acro Event with 28.05 points to ETBU's 23.25. The 5-Element was ETBU's best heat with an 8.05.
 
Winning the Pyramid Event, ETBU made up some ground scoring 27.35 points to ESU's 25.50. In the open (heat 3), ETBU scored a 9.50 and had an 8.95 in the inversion (heat 1) and 8.90 in the synchronized (heat 2) to pull within six at the half.
 
Taking the second event in a row by just 0.30 points, ETBU won the Toss Event, 25.65 to 25.35. In the open (heat 3), ETBU had an 8.80 and started the event with an 8.50 in the 450 Salto. They then scored an 8.35 in the synchronized.
 
ESU took the Tumbling Event by four points, 48.50 to 44.125. In the aerial pass, Macie Goff had a 9.25 as the best score for either team in that event. Jessica Kuhlman then had an 8.40 in the open pass.
 
The team event became the difference as ESU came away 15 points better than ETBU, 89.17 to 74.74, for the 25-point win over the Tigers.
 
ETBU will host Augustana University (S.D.) on Monday, March 11, for their third home meet of the year.