KUTZTOWN, Pa. -- Kutztown University acrobatics & tumbling team showed out in front of its home crowd for the final time this season, Thursday night. The Golden Bears topped 240 points for the third consecutive meet, sweeping Caldwell and East Stroudsburg to finish the season with a 5-3 overall record.
 
Kutztown led from start to finish, winning all six events in what essentially boiled down to a battle between the Bears and Warriors. Caldwell, in its first season of competition, performed admirably, but did not have the depth to compete in every heat or the team event. The Maroon and Gold defeated ESU 246.540-223.380 and topped the Cougars by a 246.540-86.850 score.
 
A 9.55 in the pyramid heat and 9.15 in the toss heat helped KU to a 1.95-point lead after the compulsory event. The Bears extended that with five 9.0+ scores in their next six heats across the acro and pyramid events to close out the first half.
 
Hannah Fortuna (Itasca, Ill./Lake Park), Sydney Gibbons (Cresson, Pa./Penn Cambria), Savannah Paige (Palmyra, Pa./Hershey), Maddie Welsh (York, Pa./Central York) and Julia Yeager (Reading, Pa./Muhlenberg) put forth a 9.30 in the 5-element heat to lead off the acro event, a season-best for the Golden Bears. Kutztown also set a new season-high score of 9.45 in the 7-element heat, with Abby Kiely (Glenolden, Pa./Interboro), Tiffani Lincoln (Oneonta, N.Y./Oneonta), Jordyn Osner (Broomall, Pa./Marple Newtown), Destiny Satterlee (Shenandoah Junction, W.Va./Jefferson) and Emilee Stelma (Kingston, Pa./Wyoming Valley West) competing.
 
Kutztown registered back-to-back season-highs in the synchronized and open heats of the pyramid. Allison Fernandez (Westfield, N.J./Westfield), Kiely, Lincoln, Osner and Satterlee combined to tie a program record with a 9.90 in the open heat, while a 9.60 in the synchronized heat topped the team's previous best of 9.50.
 
At the conclusion of the half, Kutztown led ESU 91.300 to 82.200 and distanced itself from Caldwell's 42.500.
 
The Bears came out strong in the toss to start the second half with Shayla Anderson-Buchanan (Philadelphia, Pa./New Hope Christian Academy), Natalie Harkins (Bensalem, Pa./Bensalem), Kiely, Lincoln, RoseMary Werkheiser (Easton, Pa./Easton) and Yeager putting up a season-best 8.70 in the 450 salto. KU went on to register its best overall score in the toss event this season with a 24.900.
 
Paige Saxey (Clearfield, Utah/Clearfield) set a season-high 9.200 in the aerial heat of the tumbling event, while Fortuna, Catherine Lewis (Limerick, Pa./Spring-Ford), Stelma and Welsh put forth a season-best 6.750 in the quad heat. Kutztown finished with an 82.690 in the team event.
 
After putting up a 249.280 in a win over then-No. 15 West Liberty back on March 25, Kutztown's final score Thursday night continued to show the strong foundation second-year head coach Karah Paull and the program are building.
 
The Golden Bears made a number of strides last year as a first-year program and this year's performances continued the positive momentum. Scores increased across the board, KU battled three ranked opponents and won its first meet over a nationally-ranked squad as it looks to move into the upper echelon of acrobatics & tumbling programs nationwide.