NEW ROCHELLE, NY— The Iona University acrobatics & tumbling team kicked off its third season with an emphatic started its season with a 262.660-224.210 victory over Long Island University on Saturday night. The No. 4 nationally ranked Gaels opened the 2026 season at the Hynes Athletic Center and bested the Sharks for the second straight season opener.
The Maroon & Gold held a three-point advantage into the halftime break before putting together strong showings in the toss, tumbling and team event to take the victory over its metropolitan counterpart.
COMPULSORY
In the season opener for both sides, the opening event was tightly contested as Iona took the close win, 37.550-35.650 in the compulsory event. The Gaels best heat of the event was a stellar 9.850 in the pyramid heat.
ACRO
In the second event, Iona got off to a stellar start with a 9.800 score in the five-element opening heat. LIU would take the edge in the six-element heat for heat two. Iona sealed the 26.950-26.750 event win thanks to a 9.600 seven-element heat score.
PYRAMID
The Gaels closed out the first half of competition with a stellar showing in the pyramid event. Iona posted heat scores of 9.85, 9.60 and 9.950 on the way to a 29.400-27.750 event win. At the halftime intermission, the Gaels led the Sharks 93.900 to 90.150.
TOSS
Back from halftime, the Gaels took a event win in the toss event, edging the Sharks by a score of 27.60-25.40. In the 450 salto and open heats, the Maroon & Gold put up stellar scores of 9.5 and 9.3.
TUMBLING
Iona continued its momentum with a 53.500-44.600 event win in the penultimate event of the night. The Gaels closed out the tumbling event strong as senior
Ty Upton delivered a 9.525 in the six-element pass. Junior
Portia Dryden delivered a closing open pass score of 9.625 for the Gaels.
TEAM EVENT
In the finale, the Gaels recorded an 87.66-64.06 victory in the team event to wrap up the season opener.
OVERALL
Out of a possible score of 292.71 based on meet start values, missed just over 30 points on the board to finish with 262.660 points on the night. LIU's start value max was 275.87 and fell 51.66 points short.
THE LINEUP
#0 Breanna Shivarain
#2
Mylah Vanden Elsen
#3
Annabella Cicci
#4 Keria Ewing
#6
Teresa Jennings
#7
Vicki Zhou
#8
Rachelle Ricafranca
#9
Olivia Montalbano
#12
Ty Upton
#13
Josie Hewett
#15
Violet Strong
#16
Briana Walker
#19
Cameron King
#20
Riley Beauchmin
#21
Julienne Templeman
#25
Emersen Johnson
#27
Leilani Morales
#30
Karryn Wieda
#31
Portia Dryden
#32
Mya Brayak
#33
Cristiana Abreu
#34
Madison Lutte
#35
Haley Merrill
#36
Laura Rojas
#38
Haley Nalty
#40
Paige Delman
#43
Gia Arias
#46
Anya Heller
UP NEXT
Iona continues its homestand on Saturday, February 21 with a noon matchup against Morgan State. The Gaels will hold senior day at the conclusion of the dual meet.
