General | 1/16/2026 6:54:00 PM

WASHINGTON, DC - The Gannon Acrobatics & Tumbling team, along with 51 other institutions, will officially compete at the NCAA Championships for the first time in the spring of 2027.

The news became official when NCAA members from all three divisions voted this week to add Acrobatics and Tumbling as a championship sport. This will be the 93rd championship sport recognized by the NCAA.

Added to the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program in August 2020, acrobatics & tumbling continued to take significant steps of growth by eclipsing the necessary 40 schools that must sponsor it at the varsity level and meet minimum sports sponsorship requirements to become eligible for championship status.

Gannon University officially introduced Acrobatics & Tumbling as a varsity sport on campus in 2014. Since then, the program has had tremendous success, including a national runner-up finish in 2024 and multiple NCATA individual event national titles. 

"This is a huge milestone, both for our program and the sport at large," said head coach Addy Womeldorph, who has been with the A&T program since 2020 as both a student-athlete and coach. "Acrobatics and Tumbling had just been recognized with an Emerging Sport status during my freshman year. To still be here at Gannon years later as a student-athlete, assistant coach, and head coach as we are officially recognized as a championship sport means the world to me. I have nothing but love for this school and this sport."

Acrobatics and Tumbling and stunt join six other sports that earned NCAA championship status through the Emerging Sports for Women program: rowing (1996), ice hockey (2000), water polo (2000), bowling (2003), beach volleyball (2015) and wrestling (2025).

The Golden Knights will begin the 2026 season on Monday, February 9th at 5:00 pm when they face Quinnipiac.