Stunt team wins first ever competition

By Jett Johnson

Sports Editor

Trevecca’s new STUNT team kicked off the season smashing the competition at the 2024 STUNT Opener Classic.

They beat every opponent in the tournament with only Mercyhurst University getting points on the board with three. All other schools were beaten by twenty or more points with the other team scoreless.

“I’m excited and definitely optimistic. It’s definitely tough when you have a new team and nobody here has done this before. The team has worked really hard, and we have come very far since September when we started together,” said Kelley Quigley, head coach.

STUNT has a roster of twenty-one athletes and will compete in three major competitions.

The 2024 Stunt Opener Classic, Texas Woman’s UNIV Tournament, and the Music City Classic at Trevecca are the three competitions.

The training has been an adjustment for the team, according to Quigley, but she is enjoying the process.

“Training has been tough on them, we train pretty much every day except for Sunday. They’ve worked their butts off. We rarely take breaks and train for about four hours at a time. We get a lot of work done, and they’re very motivated. It took us a while in the fall to get into the right mindset, but once they knew what they were getting into, it became very structured,” said Quigley.

Mikayla McCoy, senior STUNT team member, is confident in the team’s abilities as well.

“I feel confident in my team and proud of how far we have come as a first-year team. I love what we have built in such a short time,” said McCoy.

Longevity is a goal that Quigley hopes stays a constant on the team, and she thinks it will be their biggest challenge.

“It’s definitely going to be our longevity through the season because our season goes until April. We play every weekend except for two, and every weekend we play anywhere from three to four games. Keeping everybody healthy and feeling good is gonna be the best option for us,” said Quigley.

Coaching the athletes has been a fun journey, according to Quigley.

“All of them are new to the sport. It’s been fun to teach them a sport that I loved in college, and it’s a sport that’s had such a positive impact on me. Teaching them new things and seeing them grow as people has been the best part,” said Quigley.

Katie Young, sophomore STUNT team member, feels the same way toward her coach.

“Kelly has been a phenomenal coach. We have faced many challenges leading up to the season, but she has handled them with dignity and grace. We are ranked second in the preseason polls, and we wouldn’t be here without her,” said Young.

McCoy says there will probably be a noticeable difference in competing at home compared to out of state.

“I think a big difference will be not having all of our fans because where we travel is far away from home. I also feel like we really won’t know a difference because this is our first year doing this, so we don’t even know what it’s like to have a home game,” says McCoy.

Quigley is excited to be a coach on a new team at Trevecca.

“It’s very exciting. Definitely stressful and tough at times to be the educator all the time. However, it’s also been very fun and rewarding to see university excitement, student excitement and admin excitement about a new sport. It makes all of the time spent educating and training behind the scenes worth it,” said Quigley.