Kentucky STUNT boasts four All-Americans

Four members of the Kentucky STUNT team were named All-Americans by the College STUNT Coaches Association.

Sophomore Izzy Holloway was named first-team All-American, while freshman Regan Gray was named the second team. Two more Wildcats, junior Hannah Hohn and sophomore Karley Kalchbrenner, were named Honorable Mentions by the CSCA.

STUNT is a new varsity program at Kentucky, being described as a sport that relies on the technical and athletics aspects of cheerleading.

Kentucky’s STUNT program allows the athletes to display their stunting skills in head-to-head matches with other NCAA and NAIA programs across the country, with Kentucky being one of 56.

STUNT has four elements in a game, including partner stunts, pyramids and tosses, jumps and tumbling, and a team routine. The team who is judged to execute the best skills each round wins a point, with an overall winner at the end of four quarters.

For Kentucky, a STUNT team was a natural choice for adding a new varsity sport on a campus with a storied cheerleading program.

“There is very strong support for cheer at UK, in our community and across the Commonwealth. Our goal is to provide competitive opportunities for these young women while building a team that will contend for national championships,” said Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart.

Kentucky is a part of a quickly growing STUNT sport, with nine more NCAA or NAIA schools committed to joining in 2023.

The STUNT season runs from February to May, with Kentucky ending their season in the national tournament against Davenport. In its first season at Kentucky, the program had a 7-7 record and made its first national tournament appearance.

“For a first-year program to have four All-Americans, that’s really incredible. It just proves that we have a special group of young ladies who work really hard every day,” said Coach Blair Bergmann.

STUNT will begin play again in February 2023.