The number 5 Hawai’i Pacific University Sharks, Acrobatics and Tumbling team, fought a hard battle. The number 3 Oregon Ducks came a way the winner, 275.285 to 271.865, Saturday night at The Shark Tank.
In the final home meet for the year, the Sharks sent A Hui Hou to four of their senior Acrobatics and Tumbling team members. There was also a grandiose ceremony with leis and photos between coaches, parents, and teammates.
The 0-4 Sharks really struggled against the 1-2 Ducks. The Sharks had one win in the Acro Event. This was due to an Oregon faulter in the Seven-Element Heat.
The Sharks and Ducks tied in heats two of the first Compulsory Events, with scores of 9.75 & 8.60, respectively. They ended the event down by a score of 37.60-36.85.
After the Acro Event 7-Element win and a score of 9.3 to the Ducks 7.60, the Sharks pulled ahead 65.10-64.40.
HPU scored 9.85 in the Inversion and Synchronized heats at the Pyramid Event. However, it could not match the Duck’s 9.95 and 9.90 scores.
Halftime saw the Sharks trailing just 93.25-94.15.
Although the Sharks were victorious in two more heats of the Toss Event, they still came in short for the event total. They trailed 120.95-122.05.
The UO Ducks won the Tumbling Event, winning five of six heats. They scored an almost perfect 9.925 in the Open heat.
UO had to reduce their Team Event start value to 106.06 due to an injury, compared to HPU’s total of 104.69 total.
The Ducks rose with a 95.910, compared to the Sharks’ 94.990.
Comparing all events, the Sharks earned 20.08 points in deducted points throughout the meet, compared to the Duck’s 18.48
The Sharks will close out their regular season by facing East Texas Baptist on Tuesday, March 29th. Then they face the number 1 Baylor Bears on Saturday April 2. The ETBU meet will begin at 1:00 PM HST (6:30 PM CDT) at Ornelas Gym, Marshall, Texas.
