Baltimore, MD – After almost two years of constructing a program from the ground up, head coach Brianna D'Angelo and the La Salle Acrobatics And Tumbling program will compete in their inaugural meet Tuesday night in Baltimore, facing off against Morgan State at 6:00 pm. The meet will be streamed by Morgan State All-Access
here.
In April 2024, the addition of Acrobatics and Tumbling as a varsity sport at La Salle was announced by the University, in addition to Baseball, Rugby, and Triathlon, bringing the school's offering to 23 total teams.
Three months later, La Salle Vice President For Athletics,
Ashwin Puri, announced the hiring of D'Angelo as Head Coach of the team. Having spent the previous three seasons building a successful program at Coker University in South Carolina, D'Angelo architected La Salle from the ground-up, using the 2024-25 academic year to recruit and construct a roster that currently stands at 30 student-athletes from across the country.
The fruits of the labor from D'Angelo, Assistant Coach Kaylin Francavilla, and the 30 student-athletes has already begun to show, as La Salle commences competition voted as the 15
th-best team in the country, as voted on in the preseason poll by the coaches of the National Collegiate Acrobatics And Tumbling Association (NCATA). La Salle is the highest-ranked first-year program in a sport that currently has 47 competing institutions.
The NCATA is the sport's governing body, though the
NCAA voted in January to include acrobatics and tumbling as its 93rd championship beginning in 2026-27.
The ranking comes after D'Angelo built a strong inaugural team consisting of five transfer student-athletes eligible to compete in 2026, four of whom have prior competing experience in the sport, along with 25 incoming freshmen, many of whom competed in competitive gymnastics or cheerleading in high school. The 25 freshmen have been learning the sport in team practice sessions since arriving on campus in September.
One of the NCAA's official emerging sports for women, acrobatics and tumbling is a team sport that combines principals of gymnastics and competitive cheerleading, placing a physical emphasis on strength and flexibility to perform six events during a meet. In competition, each team will perform a compulsory, acro, pyramid, toss, tumbling, and team routine. For a detailed description of each event, refer to the NCATA's official
meet format.
Teams compete in 20 heats and scoring is evaluated by team of officials. Teams can score up to 300 points, as each score from each of the six events are added up to determine a winner. The Team Event is worth a maximum of 110 points – the most of any of the six.
A meet begins with compulsory, acro, and pyramid, before heading into a halftime. The final three events then ensue, with toss, tumbling, and team.
After Tuesday's showdown in Northeast Baltimore, La Salle will prepare for its first home meet on Friday, February 20, against Stevenson at 7:00 pm at John E. Glaser Arena. It will be one of three home meets for the Explorers, who also host Presbyterian (March 11) and Georgian Court (March 29).
