Wheeling, W. Va. – After opening the 2025 season at home two weeks ago, the Wheeling University Acrobatics & Tumbling team was back on their home mat Sunday afternoon. They battled #6 Fairmont State in Mountain East Conference (MEC) action, falling 261.790 to 137.525. The Cardinals continued to build on their success from their opening meet, setting several new programs highs on the day.
Leading the way was graduate student Keala McCurry, who became the first Cardinal to win an individual event. It came in the 5-element Tumbling event as she would be the first individual to compete on the night. With a start value of 8.60, McCurry would go through the pass and scored an 8.250 setting a new career-high in the event. She would beat out Fairmont State by 0.325 in the event. She would also compete in the Trio Pass during that same event, helping the Cardinals score a 7.350, their third highest score of the event. McCurry was one of the main tops for the Cardinals throughout the night, competing in each of the six events for the team on the night.
Along with McCurry's big day, the Cardinals also had their first two 9.0 point scorers or better in program history. Their highest scoring event of the night was the Compulsory Toss, where the Cardinals set a new program best with a 9.200. Gianna Bjorn and McCurry would eb the tops going up, and both flipped flawlessly into the arms of their bases below. The other Cardinal event to score 9.0 or better in the event was the Compulsory Pyramid. The Cardinals sent Tara Perry and McCurry to the top, and they both held strong to get the 9.050 score for their team. In the Compulsory event, the Cardinals would put together a total score of 28.200, and finished just 9.800 points behind Fairmont State to start out the night.
In the Acro events, it was the seven-element group leading the way as McCurry went on top with Savannah Warren serving as the base. The Cardinals put together an 8.050 and, along with scores of 7.550 in the five-element and 6.650 in the six-element, put together a total score of 22.250. It was just a four-point difference between the two teams, and the Cardinals trailed 64.350 to 50.450 after two events. The smallest margin between a start value and actual score on the night came in the seven-element Pyramid, where Wheeling scored an 8.600 out of a possible 9.000 points. The Cardinals scored 24.200 points across the Pyramid event heading to halftime with 74.650 points.
The Toss event added three more strong showing, with the 450 Salto Heat getting the highest score at 8.150. Wheeling scored 7.500 or higher in each of the three events, totaling 23.450 points for the event and getting to 98.100 for the night. Wheeling's success in the Tumbling event gave them the highest total event score of the night, finishing with a team score of 39.425 to get to their final score of 137.525. The Cardinals were not able to compete in the team portion of the event during the night, and would finish with that same score. They fell to the Falcons 172.800 to 137.525, but continued to put together strong performances.
A full list of event scores and start values is listed below:
Compulsory
Acro: FSU: 9.300, WHL 4.600
Pyramid FSU 9.859, WHL 9.050
Toss FSU 9.800, WHL 9.200
Tumbling: FSU 9.010, WHL 5.350
Total: FSU: 38.000, WHL 28.200
Acro
Heat 1: FSU (10.00) 9.450 , WHL (8.40) 7.550
Heat 2: FSU (9.90) 7.600, WHL (8.20) 6.650
Heat 3: FSU (10.00) 9.300, WHL (9.10) 8.050
Total: FSU 26.350, WHL 22.250
Match Total: FSU 64.350, WHL 50.450
Pyramid
Heat 1: FSU (10.00) 9.600 , WHL (9.50) 7.700
Heat 2: FSU (10.00) 9.700 , WHL (9.20) 7.900
Heat 3: FSU (10.00) 9.850 , WHL (9.00) 8.600
Total: FSU 29.150, WHL 24.200
Match Total: FSU: 94.500, WHL 74.650
Toss
Heat 1: FSU (9.40) 9.150, WHL (8.80) 8.150
Heat 2: FSU (9.90) 9.250, WHL (9.800) 7.800
Heat 3: FSU (9.10) 9.550 WHL (9.00) 7.500
Total: FSU: 27.950, WHL 23.450
Match Total: FSU: 121.450, WHL 98.100
Tumbling
Heat 1: FSU (9.250) 8.550, WHL (7.500) 5.200
Heat 2: FSU (9.55) 8.650, WHL (8.00) 7.350
Heat 3: FSU (8.75) 7.900, WHL (6.75) 3.700
Heat 4: FSU (10.00) 7.925, WHL (8.60) 8.250
Heat 5: FSU (9.65) 8.775, WHL (8.60) 7.125
Heat 6: FSU (9.95) 9.550 , WHL (8.00) 7.800
Event Total: FSU 51.450, WHL 39.425
Meet Total: FSU 172.800, WHL 137.525
Team
FSU (103.34) 88.90, WHL (N/A) 0.00
FINAL: FSU 261.790, WHL 137.525
The Wheeling University Acrobatics & Tumbling team returns to action on Wednesday, February 19th, when they compete in a tri-meet against Frostburg State and Glenville State.
