WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The Gannon University acrobatics & tumbling team will come home to Erie with two national titles.

Coach Brandy Duren's Golden Knights claimed national titles in the Synchronized Toss and Open Toss on Sunday during the Event Finals on the last day of the four-day NCATA Championships.

Gannon entered the NCATA Championships on Thursday hoping to win its first NCATA team title after finishing as the national runner-up in 2022. Despite a strong score – the third best among all eight quarterfinalists – No. 5-seeded Gannon suffered a close quarterfinal loss to No. 4 Quinnipiac.

The Golden Knights then turned their attention to the event finals, where qualifying teams compete in the different acrobatic and tumbling events from each meet.

Duren's team responded by garnering two national championships in the Knights' strongest event – the toss. These two titles came one year after GU captured three event titles in 2022.

That means national titles in five events over two seasons for Gannon, which has firmly established itself as a collegiate national power in the sport.

The Golden Knights won the Synchronized Toss with a score of 9.475 to top fellow qualifiers Azusa Pacific, Baylor, Hawaii Pacific, and Oregon.

 

With a score of 9.475 ... Gannon University wins the 2023 Synchronized Toss National Championship! pic.twitter.com/CpKyx9Q2S2

— NCATA (@theNCATA) April 30, 2023

Athletes who competed in that event were Layna Bergeron (Johnston, R.I./La Salle Academy), Sophie Binsol (Waldorf, Md./Westlake), Sammy Gouge (Midland, Mich./Bullock Creek), Sydney Hess (Manalapan, N.J./Manalapan), Peyton Oliver (Vallejo, Calif./Jesse M. Bethel), Maria Ondrejko (Scenery Hill, Pa./Bishop Canevin), Ali Price (New Paris, Pa./Chestnut Ridge), Alexis Tosado (Sparks, Nev./Edward C. Reed), Ty Upton (South Amboy, N.J./St. Thomas Aquinas), Addy Womeldorph (Parker, Texas/Allen), and counter Courtney Solensky (Columbia, Conn./E.O. Smith)

Gannon University win the synchronized toss event! pic.twitter.com/HejW6q4fa5

— NCATA (@theNCATA) April 30, 2023

 
A few minutes later, the Knights won a second title with a score of 9.550 in the Open Toss. This time, they edged Baylor, Fairmont State, Hawaii Pacific, and Quinnipiac.

With a score of 9.550 ... Gannon University wins the 2023 Open Toss National Championship! pic.twitter.com/QneRoFJu2e

— NCATA (@theNCATA) April 30, 2023

 
Competing in that event for GU were Binsol, Gouge, Hess, Oliver, Price, and Solensky.
 

Gannon University win the Open Toss event! pic.twitter.com/0VYxerVckK

— NCATA (@theNCATA) April 30, 2023

 
"I am so proud of our Toss Duo (Synchronized) and Open Event Championships!" Gannon coach Brandy Duren said. "They put in so much work on their tosses; it was well deserved. All of the athletes in Event Finals executed amazingly, I am honored to be the coach to lead them."
 

The Golden Knights were repeat champions in both events. In 2022, Gannon won those two events along with the Synchronized Pyramid title.

Gannon qualified for the event finals in 11 events on Sunday.