Daily Bears Report 11/6

Today’s Events

• Men's Tennis, vs Birmingham Futures, All Day
• Women's Tennis, , vs Bush's $50,000 Waco Showdown, All Day
• Women's Tennis, vs USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Championships, All Day

Acrobatics and Tumbling

Kiara Nowlin, an Oxnard, Calif., senior on the acrobatics and tumbling team, is not only a superstar at Baylor University, but she has also captured many other titles from her past sports. Baylor Lariat has the full story.

Monique Nowlin, Kiara’s mother, said she spotted something different about her daughter from early.

“Her father and I noticed how coordinated Kiara was at an extremely young age,” Monique said. “She began walking at 9-and-a-half months, and by age 2-and-a-half, she was throwing back handsprings. By age 3, Kiara was tumbling in exhibitions on behalf of her gymnastics program, and she quickly progressed to advanced tumbling from there. Some people are born with special gifts, and for Kiara, one of them is her tumbling ability.”

Through her hard work and determination, Nowlin claimed the 2007 World Age Games gold medal in power tumbling, the 2008 and 2009 USAG Winter-Classic first-place titles sand the 2009 USASF Gold Medal Young Athlete Merit Scholarship.

“It was a truly unbelievable experience winning my first gold medal. I wasn’t even expecting to place well because it was such a prestigious competition,” Nowlin said. “I was shocked when I won. It really boosted my confidence knowing I could do well against other amazing power tumblers.”

This special moment was also shared by Monique, who watched her daughter in the crowd.

“I was overcome with pride that my little girl was representing her country, and when Kiara stood on the podium and they raised the American flag high and played our national anthem. I teared up, and her father swelled with pride. We were so very happy for her,” Monique said. “All the hard work she put in, all the sacrifices she made, paid off. To this day, I still tear up thinking about it. Just a moment one never forgets.”

Nowlin did not stop there. In 2009, she claimed the World Age Games gold medal in both tumbling and double mini trampoline.

Down to the River to Pray

• Bears for Leadership Reform will be meeting at 10:00 a.m. this Thursday, November 10 in Knox Hall at the Texas Ranger Museum located at I35 and the Brazos River across from McLane Stadium. From KWTX TV 10.

Organizers of the effort have been quietly meeting for months as a group and with lawyers to figure out legal avenues to change the governance at Baylor University.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars has been spent on the effort, the purpose of which is to give alumni upset by what’s happened a way to get involved, sources with knowledge of the group said.

The group includes "not only alumni, but also students, faculty, members of the Baptist church, and advocates for victims of domestic violence or sexual assault" the sources said.

Tennis

• Baylor’s doubles duo of senior Blair Shankle and sophomore Elizabeth Profit upset the No. 3 seed Maegan Manasse and Denise Starr in second round consolation play of the USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Championship Saturday.

The Bears opened with a 6-4 win in the first set and earned the victory over Cal’s duo with a 6-3 effort in the second. Shankle and Profit move to 7-1 this fall and 2-1 in USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Championship action following the victory.

Shankle and Profit advance to face Kate Fahey and Alex Najarian of Michigan in the second round consolation doubles final on Sunday. First serve is slated for 9 a.m. (CT).

Links to UTSA/ITA National Intercollegiate Championship live scoring and the live stream are available on the women's tennis schedule page at www.baylorbears.com.

“They’re really starting to roll as the tournament has gone along. They’ve had some slow starts in each of the last two matches, but once they’ve gotten their energy up and gotten on the same page mentally, the physical part has really shown up. Both them have played to their potential once they’ve found the energy that gets each other going. They’ve played well on pressure points because they’ve had each other’s backs.” – Assistant coach Chris Frusci.

“Beating the No. 2 seed and No. 3 seed teams in this tournament are great accomplishments for the program. We hope to take that momentum into the final Sunday and on throughout the year.” – Assistant coach Chris Frusci.

Senior Blair Shankle and sophomore Elizabeth Profit wrap USTA/ITA Intercollegiate National Championship play in the second round consolation final at 9 a.m. (CT) on Sunday.

Baylor also hosts the Bush’s $50,000 Waco Showdown, which runs from Sunday, Nov. 6 to Sunday, Nov. 13, at Hurd Tennis Center. Singles qualifying draws begin at 10 a.m. Sunday and runs throughout the day. Four Bears, Jessica Hinojosa, junior Theresa Van Zyl and senior Rhiann Newborn, will be featured in singles qualifying rounds. In the event of rain, action will move inside to Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center.

Soccer

Football

• It started Friday night with one tweet, simultaneously sent out by a good portion of Baylor’s assistant football coaches and support staff. From WacoTrib.

It ended Saturday with a 62-22 blowout loss to TCU and more questions about the seemingly never-ending storm surrounding Baylor’s football program.

In this season of distractions that seem never-ending and unavoidable, this was just the latest.

Saturday, those distractions seemed to finally manifest themselves on the field.

“I hate to make excuses,” Baylor coach Jim Grobe said. “But I really don’t know how to put my finger on that.”

The tweet included a written statement with bullet points defending former coach Art Briles and was in response to a column on Thursday in the Dallas Morning News. It addressed Briles’ knowledge of one alleged sexual assault case and his actions after the allegation was reported to Briles.

It had the names of 33 Baylor assistant football coaches and support staff attached, including defensive coordinator Phil Bennett and offensive coordinator Kendal Briles, Art Briles’ son.

The Bear Walk

• When the Baylor University football players rush out of the tunnel before games at McLane Stadium, Clint Lewis is right there with Seth Russell, KD Cannon and Shock Linwood. BearsExtra has this story.

The 41-year-old Lewis knows the drill well since he’s been doing it for 22 years.

“I love having Clint around,” Baylor cornerback Ryan Reid said. “He’s probably more hyped to be at football games than anybody. He’s more pumped up than we are. He walks around with a smile on his face.”

TCU’s Kyle Hicks Shreds Baylor

Post Game

BGWMB Halftime Show vs TCU 2016

Baylor Athletics Highlights - Baylor vs. TCU

• Shock Linwood’s 27 rushing yards against TCU lifts him to 6th place on the Big 12 all time rushing list.

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