SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – For the first time in South Dakota and the surrounding region, an acrobatics & tumbling competition will take place. The Augustana Vikings host the No. 5 Oregon Ducks on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Elmen Center. The contest marks the first-ever head-to-head competition between Augustana and Oregon in any sport.
 
The Vikings make their debut with a roster of 25 student-athletes while Oregon, a founding member of the sport, begins its 13^th season of competition.
 
Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for youth. A live stream of the event can be followed at GoAugie.com/Live.
 
The Ducks
Oregon is coming off a quarterfinal showing in the 2022 season where it was the No. 5 seed. In event action, the trio tumbling pass was awarded the event championship. Of the three members of that championship, only Kaylie Barrera returns as she helped the ducks record a pair of wins over ranked opponents.
 
Along with Barrera, the Ducks total 35 returners from a year ago including the NCATA Freshman of the Year in Blessyn McMorris.
 
Oregon is under the direction of second-year head coach Taylor Susnara, a three-time All-America honoree for the Ducks from 2015-18.
 
The Vikings
Augustana is under the watchful eye of head coach Kaelyn Cowan. A three-time national champion as a student-athlete, Cowan also earned a national title as an assistant coach, all at Baylor. Cowan is a two-time All-America honoree and owns coaching stops at West Virginia Wesleyan and Limestone along with her time at Baylor.
 
Amongst the roster for Augustana is Kay Greene who transferred to AU from Chowan after being a part of the inaugural team in Greenwood, South Carolina. Greene competed in all seven events for the Hawks, earning several heat and event victories throughout the year.
 
Another student-athlete on Cowans roster with experience is Alana Machac. She competed in all 10 meets for King University a season ago while helping the Tornado to season-high scores in all three pyramid heats.
 
About Acrobatics & Tumbling
An NCATA meet is a team competition consisting of six events. The first event is compulsories, followed by three heats within the acro event, followed by the pyramid event and then halftime. After halftime, there will be the toss event, the tumbling event, and the team event. A running score will be kept throughout the meet. The team with the most cumulative points at the end of all six events is the winner of the meet.
 
The Compulsory event consists of four heats; an acro heat, a pyramid heat, a toss heat and a tumbling heat. The skills for the compulsory event represent the basic skills of the sport of acrobatics and tumbling. In this event, each team will execute the same skills for direct comparison. Each heat begins with a starting value of 10. The officials will be looking for execution, body positions and stability of structures.
 
The acro event marks the beginning of the optional portion of the meet. Each team will compete with skills previously chosen with different possible start values. There will be between two and four athletes on the floor in each of the three heats. Heat one has five elements, heat two has six elements and heat three has seven elements. The start value is determined by the difficulty and combination of each skill. In addition, each position must be held for three seconds. This event demonstrates power, strength and balance.
 
The Pyramid event is the final event in the 1^st half. In the Pyramid event, athletes will build three layers in a structure. The start value of each heat is determined by the difficulty and the combination of the entry, structure and dismount. The Pyramid Event has three different heats with different requirements for each heat. Heat one must have an inversion. Heat Two must be synchronized and Heat Three is an open heat. Two key things the officials will be looking for are the position of the top and the stability of the structure.
 
The first event of the second half is the Toss Event. Here you will see four athletes toss a teammate into the air. The teammate tossed in the air, known as a top, will execute a flip or twist before being caught. There are three heats in this event. The synchronized toss features two toss groups. These groups should look exactly alike and be in sync. The start value of the toss depends on skills that the top executes in the air. Officials will be looking for height, the top's body position and tight catches by the bases.
The fifth event of the meet is the Tumbling Event. This event has six heats. The first three are synchronized group tumbling passes; a duo, trio and quad tumbling pass. The last three are individual tumbling passes. The start value of each heat are determined by the difficulty and combination of skills in each pass. Officials will be looking for body position, continuity of skills and technique in each skill.
 
The final event of the day will be the team event. It encompasses everything you just watched in the first five events. The team event features up to 24 athletes on the floor at one time performing skills in Acro, Toss, Pyramid and Tumbling in a routine set to music. Key items for officials to evaluate include synchronization of skills, stability of the structures, body position and technique of the tumbling. This is a very fast-paced event so be sure to keep your eyes on the mat.