FAIRMONT, W.Va. -- In just its third season of existence, the Kutztown University acrobatics & tumbling team made its debut at the NCATA National Championships, Sunday. The Golden Bears, which qualified for the acro event 5-element heat of the NCATA Event Finals, tied for fourth in the event, hosted by Fairmont State University.

Following this week's national tournament, in which top-seeded Baylor was crowned champion over third-seeded Gannon on Saturday evening, the Event Finals pitted the top four scoring teams among the eight national championship qualifying teams from Thursday's quarterfinal matchups along with the at-large qualifier which went to the team with the highest scoring average this season from the non-championship qualifying teams.

Kutztown, under head coach Karah Paull, qualified in the acro 5-element heat after producing a season-long 9.778 average, good for third among 42 teams nationwide.

There were no time for national meet jitters as Kutztown was the first team to take the mat in the first event on Sunday. Competing for the Golden Bears were Jordyn Osner (Broomall, Pa./Marple Newtown), Tiffani Lincoln (Oneonta, N.Y./Oneonta), Abby Kiely (Glenolden, Pa./Interboro), Hannah Fortuna (Itasca, Ill./Lake Park) and Sienna Barbarisi (New Providence, N.J./New Providence). KU looked composed and was lauded by the ESPN+ commentary team for its inaugural performance on the national stage. Coach Paull noted that the group performed a toe pitch full up, layout off, 180 straddle hold, straddle pop over, and inversion.

Kutztown put forth a score of 9.525, tied for fourth with Mary Hardin-Baylor. Baylor University won the acro 5-element title with a score of 9.775, ahead of Gannon University (9.725) and the University of Oregon (9.675).

Sunday's meet brought to a close the 2024 NCATA season. The Golden Bears finished 6-3 in head-to-head competition this season and will no doubt be looking to return to the national stage in 2025.