BETHANY, Okla. – Southern Nazarene's newest sport, STUNT the Sport, competed in their first two tournaments in program history across the week of February 1st and the week of February 15th. The Storm completely dominated their debut tournament at Connors State College, winning all four games with Connors State and Southern Arkansas.

 In their opening game against Southern Arkansas, Head Coach Angela Hamilton's squad won every point and stayed consistent with their performances throughout, snatching the 8-0 win in their first collegiate appearance. 

Later that evening, Southern Nazarene suited up to face off with host, Connors State. SNU let up a few more points than they had wanted to, but ended with another victory, tacking on another victory in the opening tournament by a final score of 7-3. 

The Storm were set to compete against Southern Arkansas once more the following day, but a forfeit due to an injury from Southern Arkansas allowed SNU to grab another victory, pushing their record to 3-0 on the season. To finish off their time in Warner, Oklahoma, SNU handed Connor State another loss, almost keeping them scoreless in the game, but let up a single point by a round ending in a tie to finish 4-0 in their opening tournament. 

Following their impressive start to their season, the Storm traveled down to Dallas, Texas to compete in Dallas Baptist's STUNT Tournament Febraury 15th-17th. The Storm saw multiple experienced programs throughout their time in Dallas as they dropped all four games against St. Mary's, Concordia University - Irvine, Texas Women's, and Central Arkansas. Despite the losses, Southern Nazarene gained a lot of experience and had the opportunity to hone in on new skills with it being just the second tournament in program history. 

SNU STUNT played back to back games on Thursday starting with St. Mary's and followed by Concordia University - Irvine. The Storm came out strong and managed to score one point against St. Mary's while the Rattlers were able to work up to 19 total points. Despite the score reading 19-1, SNU still counted  it as a victory with it being their very first game to play all four rounds. 

In their next matchup with Concordia University - Irvine. SNU had a tough time racking up a score, falling to the Eagles 19-0. The score did not reflect the efforts by SNU as Head Coach Angela Hamilton was very pleased with the hard work and focus that the team showed.

Friday morning, SNU was ready for Texas Women's University with co-captain Rachel Fonseca, leading the team to score three points against TWU. Unfortunately, the game did not favor SNU as the scoreboard read 14-3 at the end of the game. 

Saturday morning, SNU hit the mat with University of Central Arkansas in their final game of the tournament. The teams enjoyed some music and dancing to start the pre-game warm up, putting SNU in good spirits as they geared up for the last matchup. In round two of the second quarter, Southern Nazarene hit a new skill displayed by freshman Jocelyn Whitney, one she mastered that morning in warmups Although SNU put on a strong performance, it was not enough to stump the Purple Bears as they came out on top 15-5. 

Following the two tournaments, Angela Hamilton came up with a guide on understanding STUNT the Sport:

STUNT is a four-quarter game between two teams, similar to football or basketball. The quarters are separated into categories of partner stunts, pyramids and tosses, group jumps and tumbling, and team routines. Scoring is broken down, 4 points can be awarded per quarter in quarters 1-3 and up to 12 points can be awarded in quarter 4.

A STUNT game will feature 4 quarters of competition:

• 1st quarter = Partner Stunts
• 2nd quarter = Pyramids & Tosses
• 3rd quarter = Group Jumps & Tumbling
• 4th quarter = Combined Team Routines

In each of the first 3 quarters, there are 4 rounds of competition. In each round, teams will perform 1 of 8 pre-choreographed routines head to head on the competition floor. The team with possession in each round will determine which routine is performed. The judges will rank the teams at the end of each round based on the execution of the performance.

• The team with the best execution wins the round and will be awarded 1 point.
• The team that loses the round will not receive any points.
• In the case of a tie, both teams will be awarded 1 point.
• A team may forfeit a round if they are unable to perform the necessary skills in the routine. 
• The team with the highest points total at the end of the 4th quarter will be declared the winner.

Up Next

After gaining some experience under their belt, STUNT is set to compete at Oklahoma Baptist's tournament February 25th-26th against Maryville, Oklahoma Baptist, and Alma College.