By Brian Farrell, QBSN Staff Writer

In the final regular season meet before the National Collegiate Acrobatics & Tumbling championships, Quinnipiac rallied in the tumbling event for a 279.085-275.870 win over Fairmont State.

The Bobcats trailed entering the first intermission but took on a new life in the tumbling event. Quinnipiac swept all six heats in the tumbling event.

They took an early lead thanks to an energetic start in the compulsory round.

“We came in after a rough start in our Oregon meet and our compulsory has never been so good,” sophomore Stephanie Palange said. “Right from there we knew we had it. We’ve been working all week in our tumbling rounds to get it perfect. Our coach showed us the little techniques and we just put it all together and did it.”

Fairmont held a 94.9-93.9 lead at the first intermission after winning six of the first ten heats. After falling behind 37.5-37.2 in the Acro Compulsory, the Falcons took advantage in the elements heat. During the second heat, Quinnipiac’s Trisha Pierce struggled to hold her balance, causing a 1.45 point swing. The Bobcats responded taking the next heat 9.6-9.5 before FSU took three of the next four heats for the one point lead at intermission.

From there it was all Quinnipiac, posting six straight heat wins following the first intermission.

“I told them that was where they needed to pull ahead,” Quinnipiac coach Mary Ann Powers said about the tumbling round. “But they also had to focus on the team routine and not give it away. The team routine is a lot of points and I didn’t want them to get to the point where they just felt so good about the tumbling that they forgot that they had something to finish today.”

And finish they did. The Bobcats finished the team round with a 100.46, just .59 better than Fairmont State’s 99.87.

Quinnipiac will compete next when it hosts the NCATA championships on April 24, 25 and 26.