SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Augustana acrobatics & tumbling team travels to Angola, Indiana, to conclude the regular season Saturday. In its inaugural season, Augustana holds a 3-2 record and will face host Trine and Adrian College in the program's first-ever tri-meet. Action gets underway at 2 p.m.
 
A live stream will be available at GoAugie.com/Live.
 
The Thunder
Trine is 3-2 in 2023 having won three of its last four meets. The Thunder, an NCAA Division III school, have topped Concordia-Wisconsin twice in that span and defeated Adrian for its third win. The four meets span nearly a month's time frame as the win over Adrian was on Feb. 24. The high point total in 2023 has been 247.945, a mark achieved March 16 against Mary Hardin-Baylor.
 
Trine first began competing in the sport in 2021 where it held a 1-6 mark in its inaugural season. In 2022, the Thunder compiled a 3-6 record including a third place finish at the NCATA Division III Invitational.
 
The Bulldogs
Adrian College, another NCAA Division III foe, is 0-5 in 2023 with the most recent loss coming against Gannon on March 18. The Bulldogs have pushed out a high score of 224.085 while falling in a tri meet with Mary Hardin-Baylor and Concordia-Wisconsin.
 
The program history of Adrian dates back to an exhibition schedule in 2013 and full NCATA schedule in 2014. Last season, the Bulldogs accumulated five wins while earning runner-up honors at the DIII Invite.
 
The Vikings
Augustana claimed a convincing 266.765-243.030 win over Concordia-Wisconsin last time out. In the meet, the Vikings won five of six events while claiming season high scores in four events. The team event saw a more than one point increase in the meet, garnering 93.39 points as part of the victory.  
 
Following the victory, junior Kay Greene was named an honorable mention to the NCATA Athlete of the Week list after competing in 10 heats and the team event. She was highlighted by three scores of 9.50 or higher, including a 9.85 in the compulsory pyramid and a 9.75 in the compulsory toss. She also scored a 9.30 out of a possible 9.60 in the aerial tumbling pass.
 
About Acrobatics & Tumbling
An NCATA meet is a team competition consisting of six events. The first event is compulsories, followed by three heats within the acro event, followed by the pyramid event and then halftime. After halftime, there will be the toss event, the tumbling event, and the team event. A running score will be kept throughout the meet. The team with the most cumulative points at the end of all six events is the winner of the meet.
 
The Compulsory event consists of four heats; an acro heat, a pyramid heat, a toss heat and a tumbling heat. The skills for the compulsory event represent the basic skills of the sport of acrobatics and tumbling. In this event, each team will execute the same skills for direct comparison. Each heat begins with a starting value of 10. The officials will be looking for execution, body positions and stability of structures.
 
The acro event marks the beginning of the optional portion of the meet. Each team will compete with skills previously chosen with different possible start values. There will be between two and four athletes on the floor in each of the three heats. Heat one has five elements, heat two has six elements and heat three has seven elements. The start value is determined by the difficulty and combination of each skill. In addition, each position must be held for three seconds. This event demonstrates power, strength and balance.
 
The Pyramid event is the final event in the 1st half. In the Pyramid event, athletes will build three layers in a structure. The start value of each heat is determined by the difficulty and the combination of the entry, structure and dismount. The Pyramid Event has three different heats with different requirements for each heat. Heat one must have an inversion. Heat Two must be synchronized and Heat Three is an open heat. Two key things the officials will be looking for are the position of the top and the stability of the structure.
 
The first event of the second half is the Toss Event. Here you will see four athletes toss a teammate into the air. The teammate tossed in the air, known as a top, will execute a flip or twist before being caught. There are three heats in this event. The synchronized toss features two toss groups. These groups should look exactly alike and be in sync. The start value of the toss depends on skills that the top executes in the air. Officials will be looking for height, the top's body position and tight catches by the bases.
 
The fifth event of the meet is the Tumbling Event. This event has six heats. The first three are synchronized group tumbling passes; a duo, trio and quad tumbling pass. The last three are individual tumbling passes. The start value of each heat are determined by the difficulty and combination of skills in each pass. Officials will be looking for body position, continuity of skills and technique in each skill.
 
The final event of the day will be the team event. It encompasses everything you just watched in the first five events. The team event features up to 24 athletes on the floor at one time performing skills in Acro, Toss, Pyramid and Tumbling in a routine set to music. Key items for officials to evaluate include synchronization of skills, stability of the structures, body position and technique of the tumbling. This is a very fast-paced event so be sure to keep your eyes on the mat.