Coach Brandy Duren has an impressive coaching background that includes eight years of experience in Collegiate Acrobatics and Tumbling, along with four years as a starting member of the University of Oregon Acrobatics and Tumbling team, where she specialized as a top and tumbler. She also has ten years of experience in All-Star Cheerleading.
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Duren began her coaching tenure at Gannon University as an Assistant Coach from 2021 to 2022 before being appointed Head Coach of the Acrobatics and Tumbling Team from 2022 to 2025, totaling four seasons in this role. She graduated from Gannon University in 2022 with a Master's Degree in Education.
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During her time at Gannon University, Duren led the Golden Knights to the National Collegiate Acrobatics & Tumbling Association (NCATA) National Championship Finals twice. Her teams won a total of seven NCATA National Championship trophies, including the Duo Pyramid, Heat 1 Toss, and Duo Toss in 2022; the Duo Pyramid and Duo Toss in 2023; and the Duo Pyramid and Duo Toss again in 2024.
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Under Duren's guidance as Head Coach, Gannon achieved significant individual accolades. In 2023, two athletes, Sammy Gouge and Ali Price, earned All-American honors, while Ty Upton received the NCATA Division II Specialist of the Year award, and Sydney Hess was selected for the NCATA All-Academic Team. In 2024, Gannon produced three All-Americans: Ali Price, Brianna Arre, and Ty Upton. Brianna Arre was also named an Academic All-American and received the Louis Golldram Award, while Alex DeAngelis was honored as the NCATA Division II Freshman of the Year.
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Before her tenure at Gannon, Duren was hired in 2017 to establish the inaugural Acrobatics and Tumbling Team at NAIA Arizona Christian University, where she served as Head Coach for four seasons, from 2017 to 2021. During her time, she produced twenty NCATA Academic Honor Roll members and finished her last meet with the Firestorm with an impressive total score of 265.445.
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Duren competed for four years (2012-2015) as a top and tumbler for the University of Oregon Ducks. During her collegiate career, she won three Team National Championships and Event Championships in 2014 for Toss Heat 3 and Quad Tumbling Pass, as well as in 2012 for the Trio Tumbling Pass.
Duren graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology from the University of Oregon in 2015.
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