ADRIAN, Mich. - At the Merillat Sport and Fitness Center, the Adrian Acrobatics and Tumbling team garnered a runner-up finish in the first-ever Division III Invitational, blowing the old program-record meet score out of the water with a final mark of 248.245.

"The team's performance, especially today in the finals, I mean, beating a program record by over four points, I don't know how I could be prouder of this team," expressed head coach Ellen Barker. "Being able to host this postseason means the world to me and this program, and to this sport to grow at the Division III level especially."

The Bulldogs saw noticeable improvement in several events from their semifinal effort on Saturday afternoon, including a six-point jump in the Team Event.

"I wanted them to feel happy when they walked off the mat," said Barker on her team's closing performance. "As long as they could feel proud of themselves, that's all I wanted."

Elsewhere, the black and gold set their fifth different season-high event score of the weekend, posting a 28.25 in the Acro Event.

All told, the locals bested nine of their event heat scores from the first day of competition, including two heats each in the Compulsory, Acro and Pyramid Events.

The 'Dogs efforts in the afternoon capped off an exciting day of acrobatic and tumbling action that began bright and early with the individual Event Finals, in which the hosts captured six first-place trophies.

Among those Event winners for Adrian included the 6 Element Acro heat of Hailey Brower, Alessandra Gigliotti, Payton Young, Leah Canterbury and Morgan Seavolt; the 7 Element Aco heat of Courtney Moore, Jordyn Swinkowski, Brower and Canterbury; the Duo Tumbling heat of Taryn Pitre and Brower; the Trio Tumbling heat of Alex Turi, Young and Gigliotti; the 450 Salto Toss; and Gigliotti in the 6 Element Tumbling Pass.

With the 2022 season now a wrap for the Bulldogs, Barker is hopeful that the weekend festivities can serve as a precedent for the sport moving forward.

"We have a lot of talent in Division III," stressed Barker. "I hope this continues to grow our sport for the future."