KUTZTOWN, Pa.— The Iona University acrobatics & tumbling team capped its inaugural regular season with a 262.105-256.760 on Saturday afternoon. After a narrow first half that saw the Golden Bears hold a .40 lead, the Gaels capitalized on event wins in the pyramid, toss and tumbling events to secure the dual meet win.
COMPULSORY
The opening event was tightly contested with the Golden Bears taking a narrow event win, 36.25 to 35.90. Iona tied its season best in the Pyramid heat with a score of 9.70. The Gaels best heat in the compulsory event was the Toss with a score of 9.80.
ACRO
Both teams were nearly even in the second event of the day as Kutztown recorded a narrow 27.50-26.15. The Gaels best score in the event was a 9.50 in the 5-Element heat.
PYRAMID
Iona recorded its first event win in the Pyramid, besting Kutztown 29.15-27.85 for the event. The Gaels tied a season best in the synchro heat, posting a 9.70. The open heat was the best score for the Maroon & Gold, posting a best 9.85 for the second straight meet.
At the halftime intermission, the Golden Bears held a slight 91.60 to 91.20 lead.
TOSS
Out of the break, Iona locked up another win taking the toss event, 26.40-25.90. The open toss heat was the Gaels best performance of the event, posting an 8.90 out of a start value of 9.0.
TUMBLING
The Gaels continued to roll with another event win in the tumbling event. Iona posted its largest win margin of the meet, besting Kutztown 54.325 to 48.500. Junior
Alyssa Lentz delivered a score of 9.725 out of 10 in the Aerial Pass heat. Freshman
Olivia Montalbano carded a 9.575 out of a 9.80 start value in the 6-Element Pass heat for the Gaels.
TEAM EVENT
Kutztown edged out Iona in the finale, 90.760-90.180.
OVERALL
With a possible total score of 287.640 based on start values, the Gaels earned all but 25.53 points for the meet. Kutztown's start value max was 280.310 and fell 23.37 short of its top possible total.
THE LINEUP
#1
Georgia Mason, freshman
#2
Athena Martinez, graduate student
#3
Annabella Cicci, freshman
#4
Alyssa Lentz, junior
#5-
Liz Janeiro, freshman
#6
Teresa Jennings, freshman
#7
Brooke O'Brien, freshman
#8
Rachelle Ricafranca, freshman
#9
Olivia Montalbano, freshman
#10
Bella St. Louis, freshman
#11
Samantha Gonzalez, freshman
#14
Sophia Huertas, freshman
#22
Nicole Bonnett, freshman
#23
Jenna Roby, freshman
#26
Rebecca Lane, junior
#27
Alia Ellis, freshman
#31
Portia Dryden, freshman
#43
Gia Arias, freshman
#45
Emma Kelley, freshman
UP NEXT
Iona concludes the inaugural regular season with a 5-2 dual meet record. The 2024 National Collegiate Acrobatics & Tumbling Association championship field and at-large qualifiers for event finals will be announced on Monday, April 15.
