STUNT | 7/18/2023 3:22:00 PM

RICHARDSON, Texas (July 18, 2023) – STUNT, the fastest growing female sport in the country, continues to expand and provide empowering opportunities for women to learn, lead and compete.

The expansion of STUNT continued today, as the Lone Star Conference officially announced the addition of STUNT as a league sport.

"We are so excited to be one of the first conferences to make this move for a championship," TWU STUNT Head Coach Jasmine Owens said. "We love to be pioneers in this sport and look forward to advancements as we continue through emerging sport status."

The first season of conference competition will be in Spring 2024, as the Pioneers will be set to compete against Dallas Baptist, St. Mary's and UT Tyler. The LSC will welcome Texas A&M-Kingsville to the STUNT competition rotation with the addition of their program in Spring 2025.

During the inaugural regular season, the Pioneers will compete against each opposing team in one conference contest. The regular season results will determine the seeding of the four-team conference championship, which will be held on March 23, 2024 at the site of the number one seed.

With the addition of STUNT as the 19th LSC championship sport, student-athletes will be eligible for player of the week awards, all-conference teams, all-academic teams and all major conference awards.

STUNT, which "removes the crowd-leading element and focuses on the technical and athletic components of cheer", was announced as an addition to the Texas Woman's University Athletic Department in February 2020, and the Pioneers participated in their first season of competition in Spring 2022. The sport showcases elements such as partner stunts, pyramids, basket tosses, group jumps and tumbling, as two teams compete head-to-head and are evaluated based on skill execution. 

In their first season of competition, the Pioneers finished the season ranked 10th in the final DI/DII College STUNT Rankings. TWU also celebrated its first All-American in its inaugural season, as Lauren Murphy received All-America honorable mention honors.

Most recently, in 2023, the Pioneers continued to improve and posted a historical second season. TWU recorded their most wins in program history, seven, and even recorded their first overtime win on March 26 against Drury, winning 13-12. The Pioneers also celebrated their second All-American in program history, Kaitlin Abanto, who received CSCA All-American honorable mention honors.

STUNT was named an NCAA Emerging Sport for Division II at the 2023 NCAA Convention. Through the Emerging Sport for Women Program, sports can be considered for NCAA championship status after meeting the outlined criteria: "be sponsored by at least 40 schools and must meet their sport's minimum competition and participant requirements."  

According to the NCAA, "the Emerging Sports for Women Program continues to be a catalyst for increasing opportunities for female student-athletes."

STUNT joins women's basketball, volleyball, softball and soccer as an LSC Championship sport.

"We are so excited for the student-athletes and coaches of this growing dynamic sport," TWU Director of Athletics Sandee Mott said. 'We are looking forward to continued growth for STUNT both in the LSC and in Division II."