With the 2023 national championships just a month away from April 27-30 in West Liberty, West Virginia, the National Collegiate Acrobatics & Tumbling Association (NCATA) announced its first set of 2023 Championship Rankings on Wednesday afternoon.

This year’s championship will be hosted by West Liberty University at the Academic, Sports and Recreation Complex (ASRC). The eight-team, single-elimination tournament will begin on Thursday, April 27 with four quarterfinal matchups. The semifinals are set for Friday evening, while the National Championship meet will be contested on Saturday evening. National individual event finals are scheduled for Sunday mid-morning. The complete bracket and additional event information will be announced in April.

The seven-time defending national champion Baylor Bears topped the first set of championship rankings on Wednesday. The Bears are currently 6-0 on the season and have topped 280 in four of their six meets this season. Oregon, ranked No. 2 this week, is 3-1 during the 2023 season with its only setback coming against the unbeaten and top-ranked Bears. Azusa Pacific is currently third in the rankings with a 4-2 record. After starting the season 0-2, the Cougars have won four-straight meets. Quinnipiac (3-1) and 2022 national finalist Gannon (4-2) round out the top five this week.
 
The bottom half of this week’s rankings includes a pair of 6-1 teams with Frostburg State at No. 6 and Fairmont State at No. 7. Hawai’i Pacific (3-2) is eighth, followed by Limestone (7-0) and Belmont Abbey (7-1).

The NCATA championships committee considers the overall performance of teams throughout the season thus far and utilized the following criteria to consider team rankings: W/L record, head-to-head competition, strength of schedule, common opponents, average meet score, average meet start value, score differential (execution) and the teams’ progression throughout the season.

Two more sets of regular season rankings will be released on April 5 and April 12. The 2023 championship field and at-large qualifiers for individual event finals will be released on Monday, April 17.

NCATA Championship Rankings #1 (March 29, 2023)
1. Baylor University
2. University of Oregon
3. Azusa Pacific University
4. Quinnipiac University
5. Gannon University
6. Frostburg State University
7. Fairmont State University
8. Hawai'i Pacific University
9. Limestone University
10. Belmont Abbey College
 
* Top 8 teams in final ranking will qualify for 2023 NCATA National Championship Tournament
** Results as of 3/26/23 considered in this week’s rankings
*** Next set of rankings will be released on Wednesday, April 5, 2023