There’s been an invasion of youth onto the diamonds in Eugene.
Both Oregon’s softball and baseball teams have benefited early in their seasons from powerful freshmen — on the mound and also on the basepaths. Both have high expectations, but the rookies involved aren’t holding them back. They’re leading the charge.
At Jane Sanders Stadium, it’s freshmen who are powering the top of head coach Melyssa Lombardi’s lineup.
Rylee McCoy led all Ducks with a .489 batting average entering the month of March and a team-high nine home runs in her first season with the team. A California native, McCoy went 3-4 against San Diego State University on Feb. 21 in her best outing of the season.
Stefini Ma’ake smashed eight home runs in her first 52 at-bats in 2025, accumulating a .355 batting average. A high-school home run derby winner, Ma’ake has continued that trend at Oregon. Batting cleanup behind Kai Luschar, Dezianna Patmon and McCoy, she registered a hit in 15 of her first 20 games.
Catcher Emma Cox only adds to Oregon’s mountain of young talent. She comes from the same club team as current teammates Paige Sinicki and Ma’ake. Before suffering an injury against Portland State that ruled her out for the Oregon Classic, Cox was the first Duck to earn a weekly honor from the Big Ten, when she was named Freshman of the Week after a starring role during Oregon’s 5-0 run at the UNLV Desert Classic.
Behind the plate, she has been secure — just two errors through 16 games before her injury have amply bridged the gap after the Ducks lost veteran 2024 catcher Emma Kauf to graduation.
“I think what’s great about (the freshmen) is that they can be coached in a lot of different ways,” Oregon softball associate head coach Sam Marder said. “They’re energetic, they can be coached hard, they’re incredibly accountable. They’re going to make a lasting impact on this program.”
Across the Willamette River, Oregon baseball is going player-for-player with Lombardi’s group. Head coach Mark Wasikowski has stocked his bullpen with new arms and loaded the diamond with talent to back them up.
Pitchers Will Sanford and Kellan Knox both made their first appearances during the Ducks’ season-opening series against the University of Toledo. The two appeared in the fourth matchup of the weekend, where Sanford started in a 6-1 win.
Wasikowski called Sanford’s performance, “Just okay,” after the win — but admitted that that was only because he’s seen better from the rookie in practice.
Sanford, meanwhile, praised Knox, who he called, “A dog,” and said, “He’s always working for us. He has the mentality where he’s just going to attack you. He doesn’t care who’s in the box…I feel confident with this whole staff.”
Opposite the arms, it’s been all about catchers Burke-Lee Mabeus and Coen Niclai. Mabeus was named Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week after Oregon’s series win over Rhode Island University, where he boosted the Ducks to victory with a grand slam in a 15-2 win and registered eight RBIs over the weekend.
Niclai, meanwhile, joined the Ducks despite being drafted by the Miami Marlins in the 15th round last year. He started for Oregon in games against Rhode Island and Toledo, before smacking his first-career homer against Columbia. He’ll likely have to split time with Mabeus — and returner Chase Meggers — behind the dish, but it’s not a worry for their coach.
“They’re just both really good,” Wasikowski said of Mabeus and Niclai. “We’re lucky to have them both and they’ve caught extremely well…they don’t feel like freshmen back there.”
There’s been an invasion of youth onto the diamonds in Eugene.
Both Oregon’s softball and baseball teams have benefited early in their seasons from powerful freshmen — on the mound and also on the basepaths. Both have high expectations, but the rookies involved aren’t holding them back. They’re leading the charge.
At Jane Sanders Stadium, it’s freshmen who are powering the top of head coach Melyssa Lombardi’s lineup.
Rylee McCoy led all Ducks with a .489 batting average entering the month of March and a team-high nine home runs in her first season with the team. A California native, McCoy went 3-4 against San Diego State University on Feb. 21 in her best outing of the season.
Stefini Ma’ake smashed eight home runs in her first 52 at-bats in 2025, accumulating a .355 batting average. A high-school home run derby winner, Ma’ake has continued that trend at Oregon. Batting cleanup behind Kai Luschar, Dezianna Patmon and McCoy, she registered a hit in 15 of her first 20 games.
Catcher Emma Cox only adds to Oregon’s mountain of young talent. She comes from the same club team as current teammates Paige Sinicki and Ma’ake. Before suffering an injury against Portland State that ruled her out for the Oregon Classic, Cox was the first Duck to earn a weekly honor from the Big Ten, when she was named Freshman of the Week after a starring role during Oregon’s 5-0 run at the UNLV Desert Classic.
Behind the plate, she has been secure — just two errors through 16 games before her injury have amply bridged the gap after the Ducks lost veteran 2024 catcher Emma Kauf to graduation.
“I think what’s great about (the freshmen) is that they can be coached in a lot of different ways,” Oregon softball associate head coach Sam Marder said. “They’re energetic, they can be coached hard, they’re incredibly accountable. They’re going to make a lasting impact on this program.”
Across the Willamette River, Oregon baseball is going player-for-player with Lombardi’s group. Head coach Mark Wasikowski has stocked his bullpen with new arms and loaded the diamond with talent to back them up.
Pitchers Will Sanford and Kellan Knox both made their first appearances during the Ducks’ season-opening series against the University of Toledo. The two appeared in the fourth matchup of the weekend, where Sanford started in a 6-1 win.
Wasikowski called Sanford’s performance, “Just okay,” after the win — but admitted that that was only because he’s seen better from the rookie in practice.
Sanford, meanwhile, praised Knox, who he called, “A dog,” and said, “He’s always working for us. He has the mentality where he’s just going to attack you. He doesn’t care who’s in the box…I feel confident with this whole staff.”
Opposite the arms, it’s been all about catchers Burke-Lee Mabeus and Coen Niclai. Mabeus was named Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week after Oregon’s series win over Rhode Island University, where he boosted the Ducks to victory with a grand slam in a 15-2 win and registered eight RBIs over the weekend.
Niclai, meanwhile, joined the Ducks despite being drafted by the Miami Marlins in the 15th round last year. He started for Oregon in games against Rhode Island and Toledo, before smacking his first-career homer against Columbia. He’ll likely have to split time with Mabeus — and returner Chase Meggers — behind the dish, but it’s not a worry for their coach.
“They’re just both really good,” Wasikowski said of Mabeus and Niclai. “We’re lucky to have them both and they’ve caught extremely well…they don’t feel like freshmen back there.”
There’s been an invasion of youth onto the diamonds in Eugene.
Both Oregon’s softball and baseball teams have benefited early in their seasons from powerful freshmen — on the mound and also on the basepaths. Both have high expectations, but the rookies involved aren’t holding them back. They’re leading the charge.
At Jane Sanders Stadium, it’s freshmen who are powering the top of head coach Melyssa Lombardi’s lineup.
Rylee McCoy led all Ducks with a .489 batting average entering the month of March and a team-high nine home runs in her first season with the team. A California native, McCoy went 3-4 against San Diego State University on Feb. 21 in her best outing of the season.
Stefini Ma’ake smashed eight home runs in her first 52 at-bats in 2025, accumulating a .355 batting average. A high-school home run derby winner, Ma’ake has continued that trend at Oregon. Batting cleanup behind Kai Luschar, Dezianna Patmon and McCoy, she registered a hit in 15 of her first 20 games.
Catcher Emma Cox only adds to Oregon’s mountain of young talent. She comes from the same club team as current teammates Paige Sinicki and Ma’ake. Before suffering an injury against Portland State that ruled her out for the Oregon Classic, Cox was the first Duck to earn a weekly honor from the Big Ten, when she was named Freshman of the Week after a starring role during Oregon’s 5-0 run at the UNLV Desert Classic.
Behind the plate, she has been secure — just two errors through 16 games before her injury have amply bridged the gap after the Ducks lost veteran 2024 catcher Emma Kauf to graduation.
“I think what’s great about (the freshmen) is that they can be coached in a lot of different ways,” Oregon softball associate head coach Sam Marder said. “They’re energetic, they can be coached hard, they’re incredibly accountable. They’re going to make a lasting impact on this program.”
Across the Willamette River, Oregon baseball is going player-for-player with Lombardi’s group. Head coach Mark Wasikowski has stocked his bullpen with new arms and loaded the diamond with talent to back them up.
Pitchers Will Sanford and Kellan Knox both made their first appearances during the Ducks’ season-opening series against the University of Toledo. The two appeared in the fourth matchup of the weekend, where Sanford started in a 6-1 win.
Wasikowski called Sanford’s performance, “Just okay,” after the win — but admitted that that was only because he’s seen better from the rookie in practice.
Sanford, meanwhile, praised Knox, who he called, “A dog,” and said, “He’s always working for us. He has the mentality where he’s just going to attack you. He doesn’t care who’s in the box…I feel confident with this whole staff.”
Opposite the arms, it’s been all about catchers Burke-Lee Mabeus and Coen Niclai. Mabeus was named Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week after Oregon’s series win over Rhode Island University, where he boosted the Ducks to victory with a grand slam in a 15-2 win and registered eight RBIs over the weekend.
Niclai, meanwhile, joined the Ducks despite being drafted by the Miami Marlins in the 15th round last year. He started for Oregon in games against Rhode Island and Toledo, before smacking his first-career homer against Columbia. He’ll likely have to split time with Mabeus — and returner Chase Meggers — behind the dish, but it’s not a worry for their coach.
“They’re just both really good,” Wasikowski said of Mabeus and Niclai. “We’re lucky to have them both and they’ve caught extremely well…they don’t feel like freshmen back there.”
Oregon’s pitching staff faced a revamp after a 2024 season that, while successful, lost multiple arms from a Super Regional bullpen. The Ducks lost their Friday starter (RJ Gordon) , Sunday starter (RHP Kevin Seitter), two elite bullpen arms (Brock Moore and Bradley Mullan) and closer (RHP Logan Mercado) to graduation or the MLB Draft. While rising junior Grayson Grinsell was tabbed as the Big Ten’s Preseason Pitcher of the Year, the staff around him faced significant reshuffling.
Enter a group featuring two freshmen who’d start their first games early in the season amongst returning power.
Freshmen reliever Kellan Knox and starter Will Sanford were put on the bump early in the year, in the Ducks’ first series of the season against the University of Toledo. They’re not shy of accolades — Knox was named first-team All-State in Washington and Sanford was Perfect Game and Prep Baseball Report’s No. 9 righty pitcher in California.
“Walking up to the mound on that first inning,” Sanford said after his first-ever appearance, “You see all the fans, get a little nervous, but I think as soon as you throw that first pitch and get that out of the way, you feel good.”
They’ve been vital as Oregon has played its early games in a variety of ways this year. The Ducks won 1-0 (courtesy of a standout performance from sophomore Collin Clarke) and 19-12 in back-to-back doubleheader games in a series against Rhode Island University.
Oregon allowed three or fewer runs five times in its first nine games. Granted, it gave up 40 total runs across the other four, but the Ducks have shown their mettle through the early part of the season.
The full staff looked largely imperious through three series. Grinsell hasn’t yet hit the levels that his preseason award foreshadowed, but still showed why he was the favorite through three series. 6’11’’ junior Jason Reitz had a successful, 68-pitch, 1-earned-run outing against Columbia University (a 35-1 win) and sophomore Collin Clarke struck out eight in the second game of the doubleheader against the Lions.
Early blowouts have provided looks at bullpen freshmen, too. Michael Meckna and Tyler Jones got work against Rhode Island and Columbia, where Meckna pitched 6.2 total innings without a run and Jones threw 1.1 against the Rams and surrendered just one hit.
“They work their tails off around here,” Wasikowski said of the freshmen pitchers. “And so when we can (get them into games), that’s really important — and when we can get some of the guys who’ve been rolled out there as starters off their feet a little bit, that’s important too.”
Veteran nous will be what Oregon relies upon next as it chases postseason success after back-to-back Super Regional appearances in 2023 and 2024. In both those years, the Ducks exited the postseason after giving up 11 and 15 runs in the deciding game. Clarke has some good news:
“They’re reliable,” Clarke said of the Ducks’ young hurlers. “They’re young, but they sure do act old.”
On the mound, there’s an abundance of depth. The talent, the Ducks say, is there. They just have to perform.
Oregon’s pitching staff faced a revamp after a 2024 season that, while successful, lost multiple arms from a Super Regional bullpen. The Ducks lost their Friday starter (RJ Gordon) , Sunday starter (RHP Kevin Seitter), two elite bullpen arms (Brock Moore and Bradley Mullan) and closer (RHP Logan Mercado) to graduation or the MLB Draft. While rising junior Grayson Grinsell was tabbed as the Big Ten’s Preseason Pitcher of the Year, the staff around him faced significant reshuffling.
Enter a group featuring two freshmen who’d start their first games early in the season amongst returning power.
Freshmen reliever Kellan Knox and starter Will Sanford were put on the bump early in the year, in the Ducks’ first series of the season against the University of Toledo. They’re not shy of accolades — Knox was named first-team All-State in Washington and Sanford was Perfect Game and Prep Baseball Report’s No. 9 righty pitcher in California.
“Walking up to the mound on that first inning,” Sanford said after his first-ever appearance, “You see all the fans, get a little nervous, but I think as soon as you throw that first pitch and get that out of the way, you feel good.”
They’ve been vital as Oregon has played its early games in a variety of ways this year. The Ducks won 1-0 (courtesy of a standout performance from sophomore Collin Clarke) and 19-12 in back-to-back doubleheader games in a series against Rhode Island University.
Oregon allowed three or fewer runs five times in its first nine games. Granted, it gave up 40 total runs across the other four, but the Ducks have shown their mettle through the early part of the season.
The full staff looked largely imperious through three series. Grinsell hasn’t yet hit the levels that his preseason award foreshadowed, but still showed why he was the favorite through three series. 6’11’’ junior Jason Reitz had a successful, 68-pitch, 1-earned-run outing against Columbia University (a 35-1 win) and sophomore Collin Clarke struck out eight in the second game of the doubleheader against the Lions.
Early blowouts have provided looks at bullpen freshmen, too. Michael Meckna and Tyler Jones got work against Rhode Island and Columbia, where Meckna pitched 6.2 total innings without a run and Jones threw 1.1 against the Rams and surrendered just one hit.
“They work their tails off around here,” Wasikowski said of the freshmen pitchers. “And so when we can (get them into games), that’s really important — and when we can get some of the guys who’ve been rolled out there as starters off their feet a little bit, that’s important too.”
Veteran nous will be what Oregon relies upon next as it chases postseason success after back-to-back Super Regional appearances in 2023 and 2024. In both those years, the Ducks exited the postseason after giving up 11 and 15 runs in the deciding game. Clarke has some good news:
“They’re reliable,” Clarke said of the Ducks’ young hurlers. “They’re young, but they sure do act old.”
On the mound, there’s an abundance of depth. The talent, the Ducks say, is there. They just have to perform.
There were important questions hanging in the air before No. 4 Oregon acrobatics and tumbling’s (3-1) senior night meet against No. 5 Mary Hardin-Baylor on Friday night. How would the first half look after a shaky meet a week ago? Could the Ducks finally lay down a mistake-free team event? Could tumbling continue to buoy Oregon’s second half?
The Ducks answered them all with confidence in a 19.175-point blowout win that closed their home slate. Here’s what we learned from the Ducks’ win over the Cru:
The reset worked
Oregon struggled last week in the first half against Gannon, and head coach Taylor Susnara spent the week of practice emphasizing mental toughness and “staying present,” she said after the UMHB meet.
Susnara highlighted the Cru as a particularly strong first-half program, and the Ducks subsequently came out rolling — a strong sign that this team can bounce back from setbacks with the pressure on. The only chance for a similar event came after the Ducks’ loss to Baylor, but that was separated by a bye week — and Oregon didn’t perform well immediately afterward.
The Ducks performed much better against the Cru in compulsories despite just a marginally better (.150 more than against Gannon) score. They compounded it, too, with an acro event that finished a substantial 2.45 points better than the week before.
Part of the acro success was the introduction of a new seven-element skill — Bella Swarthout and Bethany Glick debuted a slide-to-split skill that is new to Oregon’s acro event, but not to those two. It’s been a staple of the Ducks’ team event this season, and Glick said afterward that she felt the hand-to-hand press handstand that she performs is “really well controlled” — exactly what the Ducks needed after the frustrating event a week ago.
Tumbling is this team’s strongest event
Despite the first-half success, it’s becoming increasingly evident that this team’s greatest strength is tumbling. Last week, this section read, “Tumbling might be this team’s strongest event.”
It’s no longer a question.
Oregon throws down 10.0 start values in all six heats — impressive not only because of the across-the-board difficulty but also because athletes cannot compete in multiple synchronized or multiple solo pass heats. That means that Oregon has nine athletes who can compete maximum-difficulty passes.
Very few programs can do that. It was evident against UMHB, where the Ducks had a 6.95-point start value advantage in the heat. It’ll be matched when Oregon gets to the sharp end of its season, but both the difficulty and the quality are there for the Ducks. It’s undoubtedly their greatest strength.
The real test begins now
Oregon has had about as good of a home start as it could realistically have hoped for. The Ducks won three of four, and kept it close until the end against Baylor. Save for an unlikely upset of the champs, it couldn’t have gone much better for Susnara and Oregon.
Now, though, the real challenge begins. The Ducks go on the road in an unconventional season structure that sees them finish the regular season with three consecutive away meets. That’s difficult enough without the pressure to immediately succeed on the road.
There’s no margin for error, either. All three of Oregon’s upcoming opponents were ranked within the top eight in preseason — including the top two teams in the nation. These aren’t easy meets for the Ducks; they’ll be hard-fought contests.
That’s why the timing matters, too. Oregon’s meets have been relatively well-spaced up to this point: weekly on Fridays or Saturdays with a week off after the Baylor meet. Now, the Ducks will compete two meets in a week, against No. 2 Quinnipiac and No. 8 Iona, for the first time this year before an eight-day layoff and a trip to No. 1 Baylor closes the year. It’ll be a physical test — more than any they’ve faced yet this year.
This is proving time for a program that has time and again struggled to get over the hump. It’s similarly structured to the schedule the Ducks would face in a potential NCATA Championship run: closely-spaced meets against top-quality teams in unfamiliar gyms.
The Ducks can’t afford many slips — now more than ever. Every meet matters, and for all of the strength that they’ve shown at home, it’s still to be shown whether it’ll show up on the road.
It starts next Sunday, when Oregon faces Quinnipiac. The meet is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time.
Oregon women’s track and field won the 2025 NCAA Indoor National Championship on Saturday. The Ducks claimed points in six events, including an event win for Wilma Nielsen in the mile, and claimed its first national title (indoor or outdoor) since 2017.
In Virginia Beach this weekend, Oregon’s 55 points at time of winning (the Ducks clinched with two events to run) came from across the board.
Sprinter Jaydn Mays finished second in the 60 meter dash, where she ran 7.12, while Aaliyah McCormick took the same place and ran 7.91 in the 60 meter hurdles. Mays doubled up, finishing second overall in the 200 meter dash with a 22.45 second sprint to eventually seal the title for Oregon.
The Ducks dominated in distance. Nielsen won the mile running 4:32.40, where NCAA Indoor mile record holder Silan Ayyildiz finished fourth. The two athletes were then joined by Ella Clayton and Ella Nelson for the distance medley relay, where Oregon ran 10:45.99and finished second overall. Ayyildiz was scheduled to run the 3000 meter as well, but scratched after Oregon’s win was confirmed.
One of Oregon’s Paris Olympians, thrower Jaida Ross, finished second in the shot put, throwing 18.98m in what was her final meet as a Duck, according to her Instagram story.
Oregon now turns its attention to the outdoor season. The Ducks will host several meets at Hayward Field during the regular and postseason this spring and summer, including both the Big Ten and NCAA outdoor championships in May and June.
The Ducks will host the Oregon Preview, scheduled for March 21 and 22, at Hayward Field.
One week removed from its most chaotic meet of the year, No. 4 Oregon acrobatics and tumbling (3-1) laid down its most solid, even meet of the season on senior night against No. 5 Mary Hardin-Baylor (3-2): a 275.180 – 256.005 victory that marked the Ducks’ second ranked victory of the season.
A revamped acro event complemented a strong first half, and start value advantages in the final three events meant that the Cru never really had a chance. Oregon executed regardless, and claimed a crucial ranked win at home before it heads on the road to compete three away meets.
“This past week, we worked a lot on honing it into our first half, while also executing our second half, while staying mentally tough, but also present,” Oregon head coach Taylor Susnara said.
It all showed up from the start.
The Ducks began by cleaning up what was a messy compulsory event last week against Gannon. Oregon scored a season-low 37.15 against the Knights and struggled with stability throughout, but none of that was present on Friday. Freshman tumbler Morgan Willingham, who omitted a skill in compulsory tumbling a week ago, executed well in the heat and the Ducks scored 9.200.
Oregon freshmen Angelica Martin (named NCATA Freshman of the Week after Oregon’s win over Gannon) and Cassidy Cu continued to keep their five-element acro one of the Ducks’ strongest. They haven’t scored below 9.65 this year, and matched their season-high against the Cru with a 9.85 on Friday.
Meanwhile, Susnara changed her entire seven-element acro sequence and athletes after it scored a season-low 8.45 a week ago. The full event was where Oregon struggled — a season-low 26.55 was more than two points below its previous low.
“We changed our entire acro seven heat with Bella (Swarthout) and (Bethany) Glick doing the whole thing, and so we did that for strategy purposes,” Susnara said.
The sequence isn’t new to the two athletes — they’ve been competing it in team event prior to Friday night, but the meet was the first time it was in the seven-element slot.
It paid off. Oregon scored a season-high 29.000 — the best of which were dual 9.85s in five and seven element.
“Honestly, Bella and I have been doing that press skill for a while now, and with that kind of handstand, I feel like I have a lot more control, which is nice for something in acro event,” Glick said. “Every single deduction counts, (and we compete) something that’s really well controlled, and that we can hit during team event (too).”
The Ducks continued to put the pressure on with a pyramid event that once again outscored last week’s struggling trio of heats. After 9.2 and 9.5 scores plagued the Ducks against Gannon, they didn’t go below 9.75 and scored multiple 9.900s to extend the halftime lead to 2.050.
It’s the second half, though, where Oregon thrives. Equal or higher start values in every event against the Cru already gave them a lead before either team stepped on the mat, and they ran with it.
Oregon took advantage immediately. The Ducks had a 1.100-point start value advantage in the toss event, and — despite scoring no higher than 9.600 — still won the heat by 1.500.
“It matters a lot, especially when you have teams like University of Mary Hardin-Baylor with a really strong first half,” Susnara said. “It was pretty close going into the second half, (and) so start values definitely help. Executing them makes it even better.”
The Oregon start value advantage was even more pronounced in the tumbling event — 6.95 in the Ducks’ favor. The difficulty, though, is immense: Oregon put all 60 available points in play with 10.0 values in every heat.
The Ducks paid it off again. An immense 56.750 score, while not a season-high, vaulted Oregon into a nearly insurmountable 9.050 score ahead of the team event. It’s been the Ducks’ best event this season, and a combination of freshmen and seniors handed an ideal score to Oregon.
With the lead in hand, Oregon threw down one of its most-solid team events of the season. It only showed up as a 94.530, but the Ducks completed all of their skills in what Susnara said Oregon “focused very hard on.”
After winning three of four home meets this year, the Ducks now head on the road for their three away meets this season.
“I feel like some people might think that like our schedule this year, like having all home meets and then having all the away meets is a bad schedule,” Glick said. “But I feel like it’s nice to build up the confidence at home and then be able to take that and run with it.”
First up is Oregon’s first two-meet week of the year, a road trip to No. 2 Quinnipiac and No. 8 Iona. There’s important things to take from a successful homestand for Oregon, Susnara says.
“I think (it’s) just learning from our mistakes that we had at home and then dialing into the things that we adjusted in this meet,” Susnara said. “And today, our goal was being consistent in our energy.”
The Ducks face Quinnipiac on March 23 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time and Iona on March 28 at 3:00 p.m.
It was quiet, all of a sudden, when they stepped onto the mat. It tends to be when history is being made.
For Angelica Martin and Cassidy Cu, though, it was all about the history they’d already made. They knew these mats like the backs of their hands, and these skills like they knew how to walk. They needed to as they were debuting a skill combination that had never been competed before in the history of acrobatics and tumbling.
No pressure.
Martin’s parents, who had flown from Delaware to Eugene to watch their daughter compete, sat in the first available row in front of the mats at Matthew Knight Arena. Draped over the tarp that separated them from the judges was a canvas banner that read in neon yellow letters, “ANGELICA #59 SCOOO DUCKS.”
Right behind them were Cu’s parents, who flew from their home in the Bay Area for the first (but not last) time this season.
As the meet came out of its commercial break, Pitbull’s “Don’t Stop the Party” echoed off the metal rafters of a mostly-empty arena.
“Y’all having a good time out there?”
“¡Que no pare la fiesta!” (don’t stop the party).
The sound dimmed. Martin and Cu jogged onto the mat. The cheers rose, then fell away.
What happened next had never before been done in acrobatics and tumbling competition — although the two athletes had built it, piece by piece, over a decade. It took months of training that followed years of dedication. The athletes, who had traveled thousands of miles before landing in Eugene, were participants in a growing sport. Their parents, their coaches and their teammates had enabled them to make history; theirs was a journey that had goals stamped in the history books.
Their skill, a reverse planche with a slide-to-split, was about to become the first to be performed in acrobatics and tumbling history. It’s a combination of techniques they’d learned as acrobatic gymnasts, combined and submitted together for the first time in collegiate history.
All they had to do when they stepped on the mat was what they’d done for years: execute.
SECTION 1: BEFORE
Before they made history, though, they had to make it to Eugene. Before they made it to Eugene, the sport had to make it there. Before the sport made it there (just barely), they had to be born and raised with the necessary dedication.
Gymnastics has been part of the Martins’ lives for a while. They’ve been driving Angelica to practice for years. They know how the world of acrobatic gymnastics works, and their house reflects that.
Angelica’s been training as a gymnast since age four. In middle school ,she started practicing five days a week. She never complained, her father, Joe Martin said.
“She’s a self-motivator,” he said. “I think a lot of that comes from the sport — you look at the other girls, and they have that same characteristic: very focused on what they need to get done.”
Angelica Martin (bottom) competes with her acrobatic gymnastics trio. Photo by Joe Martin
Those five-days-a-week are when she began to learn the “slide-to-split” — a skill where the athlete, hoisting a teammate above their head, drops to one knee before sliding both legs into a split. It holds a high level of difficulty, not only because of the split skill, but also because the athlete’s stability and balance becomes exponentially more difficult when they leave their feet.
Martin performed it at the USA Gymnastics Championships in 2021, where she placed seventh.
Neither Joe Martin nor his wife, Dr. Lisa Martin, were collegiate athletes (he played intramurals; she did dance). They didn’t have experience with the inside of collegiate athletics. It didn’t matter — their daughter would figure it out.
“This whole thing was new to us as well,” Joe said. “But the fact that she took to it (the sport)…the type of parents we are, we should always support her 100 percent.”
That’s why it was a no-brainer for him to go to a local print shop and buy the banner he’d bring to Eugene for Angelica’s first meet. Of course they were going to be there — it was a foregone conclusion. The banner folded up neatly into his travel bag.
“As a father,” Joe said. “It’s difficult to have your child so far away…I’m used to being able to be there. That’s not the case here — it takes us at least a whole day to travel. You pick up on your faith, and God, and trust that everything’s going to work out. I’ve always felt that this was where she was supposed to be.”
Travel days be damned, nothing was going to stop the Martin family from showing up at Matthew Knight Arena and sitting in the first row.
Just behind them was the Cu family (in the third row, a little to the right). They’re a little closer to home; it’s an hour and a half or so on the flight from the Bay Area that they’ve taken three times this season to come see Cassidy. It’s worth it every time, they say.
“It’s still scary, as a parent, watching them do their skills,” her father, John Cu, said.
He’s watched his daughter practice and compete with a broken bone, and with whiplash. None of it stopped her.
“She’s very competitive,” her mother, Shirley Cu, said. “She keeps it internally, but she’s very competitive. She’s got that fire in her.”
The world of acrobatics and tumbling is small, in their experience. There’s very few “elite” (John’s words) acrobatic gymnasts in the nation.
“We all know each other,” he said. “And the parents know each other.”
They’ll fly from the Bay Area to Eugene and inevitably see someone they know headed to the meet. When they traveled for Oregon’s meet against Baylor, it was top Bethany Glick’s parents. Next, it’s top/tumbler Carly Garcia’s mother.
They run into Oregon base Bella Swarthout all the time. Just after she was recruited, the family says, they’d find each other at tournaments and take pictures together. It’s a small sport. It’s a small world.
But sometimes, for the Cus, the world is big. Cassidy was a sophomore in high school when she traveled to Azerbaijan, where the 2022 World Acrobatic Gymnastics Championships were held.
Her parents couldn’t be in the stands — coronavirus restrictions left them in a nearby hotel lounge with all of the American team parents, watching their daughter win the gold medal on Azerbaijani television.
That was where she performed a reverse planche. The skill shares a name with a type of wine bottle holder — what the two have in common is an off-center center of mass to establish balance.
Cu’s body, held in the Azerbaijani air by two American teammates, bends into a curve — backwards from where her hands press against her teammates’, and then bends 180 degrees into an opposite, horizontal line from the hips down.
“They were performing one by one,” John said. “We saw everything from there. When she won gold, we were jumping up and down.”
“We were jumping and hugging,” Shirley said. “I was like, ‘Oh, my God.’”
Both sets of parents remember driving away from their kids on drop-off day before the first day of freshman camp at Oregon. Both Angelica and Cassidy handled it better than their parents did, their families said.
“It was rough, for me,” Shirley said. “It was very emotional — it’s great that she’s independent, but, you know, it sucks for us as parents.”
The Martins thought they were ready, too. They’d heard about empty nest syndrome, and they talked to Angelica the week before they dropped her off about it.
“‘We’re gonna say goodbye, and we’re not gonna see you for a long time,’” Lisa told her daughter. “And we told her then that there will be a moment — the last moment, where we say goodbye.”
The moment that stuck with her, though, wasn’t the goodbye. It was when she saw Angelica with other freshmen at Oregon’s recruitment weekend. She saw that she had friends — great ones, Lisa said. It made it a little easier.
“I’m thinking, ‘Birds of a feather really do fly together,’” she said.
SECTION 2: THE WORK
The two athletes didn’t have to wait long for a challenge. Oregon head coach Taylor Susnara brought them together early, they said.
They’d been working together on the basics of the sport even before they started the skill — at freshman practices, which start daily at 8:00 AM before fall quarter in September.
On one of those September days, Susnara asked if any of the athletes had ever done a slide-to-split skill before. Two of the crowd raised their hands.
“She (Susnara) just put us together,” Cu said. “And then so, when she was talking about learning the slide, she’s like, ‘Well, we’re already working together (Martin and I), so let’s try it.’”
After one of the team’s lift days at the Casanova Center, Susnara brought the two across the paved courtyard that lies in the shadow of Autzen Stadium to the Moshofsky Center, which houses an indoor football field. They began to work.
“It started off…badly, at first,” Martin says.
But it evolved. A hand-to-hand press (a skill where one athlete is inverted above another in a handstand, balanced on the bottom athlete’s hands) was pushed higher and higher into the air. Eventually, they added the reverse planche and slide-to-split that became the combination on the mats that they compete in-season. It took time, but it was working.
Part of that growth was the community, they said. Swarthout and Cu are still close.
“I grew up kind of watching Cassidy and being acquainted (with her), and I love her to my core,” Swarthout said. “She is so awesome. She’s so amazing. And I think that just as a whole, Cassidy is just a really fun person to be around, and I really enjoy working with her.”
After she committed to Oregon, Cu would spend time at Swarthout’s house and gym. Swarthout taught her “the basics,” Cu said — the skills that she’d have spent the first few weeks at Oregon learning.
When she showed up, she had a head start.
“She was low-key my mentor,” Cu said.
Just before the two athletes headed home for winter break, Susnara put the skill in as Oregon’s five-element acro submission.
Finally, it was time.
SECTION THREE: MEET DAY
By the time the two athletes jogged onto the silent mat against Morgan State University on Feb. 15, it could’ve been a formality. It wasn’t — not yet.
With her feet set apart, Martin formed a firm base in the middle of the mat. Cu stepped onto Martin’s right thigh, then onto her left shoulder. Suddenly, she was nearly six feet above the ground.
Then came what she called “the most nerve-wracking part”: the extended hand-in-hand press. Cu’s hands locked with Martin’s, and she kicked her legs from shoulder to above her head, into the inversion. The two locked eyes, too.
“Here, I’m pretty calm. I’m feeling pretty good, you know, arms squeezing,” Martin said, watching the skill back afterward.
They knew what would happen next. Cu entered the reverse planche. Her back bent at an impossible angle. The silence began to lift, and a roar began to build from the stands.
Now, it’s Martin’s turn. With Cu in the planche, she went down to a knee. She slid her foot away to complete the slide-to-split. She felt something different.
The sole of her shoe was caught on the tape line. She couldn’t push her foot all the way, not with it stuck like that.
“I’m like, ‘Dang,’” Martin said. “‘I don’t really know what’s going on.’ Honestly, the only thing in my mind was I really need to make this skill and do whatever I need to do to make it. Because if we didn’t, it would be a missed skill.”
But she’d been here before — every one of those five days a week taught her what to do next.
She gave it a little push. The leg slid. The crowd rose.
They held the M.C. Escher-esque frame for three seconds — the required time — before Cu twisted into her dismount.
They jogged off. Oregon rolled through its first meet of the season. It set a record-high in the team event, where Martin and Cu performed the skill again. That time, the foot didn’t stick.
Afterwards, on the mat, Susnara looked like she knew all along.
“Two freshmen, right out of the gates…acro event is a hard event to go out there, especially your first time ever competing at a collegiate meet,” she said. “They did fantastic. We had a little hiccup — I don’t even know if most could tell — but they recovered super well and so I’m proud of them.”
Their families are proud, too.
The Cus have one more flight booked this year — and one more meet to attend in Eugene, when Oregon’s final home outing rolls around on March 14.
The Martins, meanwhile, will head to the Northeast for Oregon’s first away meets of the season in mid-March. Joe Martin is packing his green canvas banner, folded neatly. He’s bought and printed 11 more, for everyone he’s invited to join them. Shirts, too, from Angelica’s NIL site.
“I told all our friends that they know what they’re getting for Christmas next year,” he said.
The two athletes have plenty of goals. A perfect-10 score in the event is first up — it’s something they’re chasing every day.
In Oregon’s practices, they savor the reps they get on the center of the mat, because it means that everyone’s eyes are on them. They’ll get feedback, which means they inch closer to their perfect score.
“We really want to get a 10-acro five, but it’s really hard because it’s a full inversion. It’s our goal, every practice when we do it on the floor. We’re always joking with Coach Jacie (Van de Zilver),” Cu said.
“We’re like, ‘This is gonna be a 10,’” Martin said.
They’ll continue to chase it. The next week, against No. 1 Baylor, the two improved their score in the heat to 9.85 — higher than any Oregon score from 2024. No Duck group has scored a perfect-10 in the heat since 2021.
The two didn’t improve their score again in Oregon’s third meet, a win over No. 3 Gannon where they scored 9.75, but Martin was named the National Collegiate Acrobatics and Tumbling Association’s Freshman of the Week — her first-career national award.
After that?
“Say it,” Cu whispered to Martin in her interview. “Say it.”
“I’d love a national championship for acro five,” Martin said.
At the NCATA National Championships every year, after team competition concludes, the best athletes in each event compete for individual national titles. That’s what’s on their mind — an individual event championship in five-element acro. No group of two freshmen have ever won.
They don’t believe they have to say it for it to happen, though.
“I feel like it’s a matter of how much work we put in this season and the work put into the actual skill,” Martin said. “It’s actually improved so much since we started doing it, drastically, in six months. So by the time we get to nationals, it could be even better than it is now.”
It’s quiet on the mat when they jog on every week.
No. 4 Oregon acrobatics and tumbling (2-1) pulled out a second-half victory to defeat No. 3 Gannon University (2-4) on Friday night. The Ducks stumbled out of the gate, but a new multi-season high score in tumbling erased all doubt as Oregon came out of the bye week with a win.
Here’s what we learned from the Ducks’ latest victory.
The bye week gives and takes
The Ducks immediately struggled coming off their first bye week of the season. Oregon scored season-lows in all three first-half events and had uncharacteristic issues across the board — an omitted skill and multiple falls or near-falls. Head coach Taylor Susnara said afterwards that the bye week can, “sometimes create a bit of lax,” and it showed up early as the Ducks didn’t perform to their standard.
However, that time spent on bye paid off later on. Oregon swept the second-half events, posting a season-high in tumbling and a remarkably clean team event, to eventually ease to victory. Some of that was Gannon’s inefficiencies. The Knights — who lost multiple tumblers in the offseason — had very low start values in the first three tumbling heats, but the rest was Oregon — which showed the mental strength that Susnara talks about to pull off the comeback.
The bye week gives and takes. For the Ducks, it paid off in the end.
Tumbling might be this team’s strongest event
The immediate reaction is to name the pyramid Oregon’s strongest event — it’s where it has scored a perfect-10 two years in a row.
But the tumbling is too strong to ignore. The Ducks’ six heats — all 10.0 start values — averaged a 9.670 against the Knights, more than Gannon’s average start value in the event (9.26). Oregon has multiple freshmen who don’t look out of place in the event.
Plus, it’s in a crucial spot. Every event is important, but the Ducks continually perform well in the final non-team event — against Baylor, it was where they closed the gap to less than two points. This past weekend, it was where Oregon extended its lead to a near-unassailable position and scored its highest total since 2017.
This team can have multiple great events — it’s all-inclusive. But tumbling might be the most important, and the Ducks excel in it.
Time to build
Now back above .500 on the season, Oregon enters a gauntlet of top-eight matchups to end the year. The Ducks will face four of the top eight (and three of the top five), in the next month. Three of those meets are on the road.
But Oregon can’t afford a break — no, this is time to stack wins. Its eyes are on a high seed in the NCATA Championship, and the opportunities are there to claim it.
Against No. 5 Mary Hardin-Baylor, the Ducks will have their last home meet. Against No. 8 Iona and No. 2 Quinnipiac, they’ll compete two meets less than a week apart. Against No. 1 Baylor, they’ll have one more shot at the top of the table. Their schedule is loaded with chances to prove themselves.
Now, they’ve to pull it off.
Oregon takes on Mary Hardin-Baylor on March 14 at Matthew Knight Arena.
