DE PERE (NBC 26) — The athletes on St. Norbert College's STUNT team spent their first season doing more than learning a new sport.
They were building an entire program from the ground up.
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St. Norbert became the first college in Wisconsin to sponsor STUNT when it launched the program for the 2025-26 academic year. The sport, which combines elements of cheerleading, gymnastics, and dance into a head-to-head competition format, is one of the fastest-growing women's sports in the country.
"We really looked at our sport offerings about a year and a half ago," St. Norbert athletic director Cam Fuller said. "Looking at STUNT, it's one of the fastest-growing women's sports in the country. It's now an NCAA championship sport, so it was the right time."
The Green Knights completed their inaugural season this spring and now turn their attention toward growing the roster, recruiting athletes, and helping expand awareness of the sport across Wisconsin.
What is STUNT?
At first glance, STUNT may resemble cheerleading, but the competition format differs.
STUNT is structured similarly to a basketball game with four quarters. Teams compete head-to-head while judges evaluate execution, technique, timing, and precision.
"The first quarter is going to be your partner stunts. Second quarter is going to be pyramids and tosses. Your third quarter is going to be jumps and tumbling," St. Norbert Head Coach Breyana Krause said. "And then fourth quarter is kind of going to be all of those different quarters combined into one routine."
Coaches call specific routines during competition, and teams perform the same skills simultaneously. Judges award points based on which team executes the routine more effectively.
"People are watching all elements of cheer kind of just put into game form," Krause said.
The sport's rapid growth has created new collegiate opportunities for athletes with backgrounds in cheerleading, dance, and gymnastics.
"It really gives young women across the country an opportunity to play a sport that they love," Fuller said. "They may not grow up competing in STUNT, but there's some sports that have similar disciplines that they'll be able to use those skills to play a collegiate sport."
Building a program from scratch
Launching a new sport came with challenges.
St. Norbert competed with just eight athletes during its inaugural season. Typical STUNT rosters often range from 20 to 25 athletes.
"One of the biggest challenges we had this year was our roster size," Krause said. "This year, we had to maneuver and work with eight girls."
The smaller roster meant athletes often competed in every quarter of every competition.
"Because there were so few of us, I was in every single quarter," sophomore Ella Devantier said.
The travel schedule also tested the young program. With no other collegiate STUNT teams in Wisconsin, the Green Knights traveled throughout the Midwest for competitions.
"We had two back-to-back tournaments and then a couple weeks in between and then two more back-to-back tournaments," Devantier said. "The average bus time for that was probably like eight hours."
Despite the challenges, athletes said the experience helped create a close-knit team culture.
"We got super close," sophomore Lauren Weiss said. "We had a lot of ups and downs this year, which definitely brought us closer, and I think that we have a good foundation with that."
Progress by season's end
While the team spent much of the year learning the sport's competition format, coaches and athletes saw noticeable improvement throughout the season.
Devantier pointed to the team's final tournament as a breakthrough moment.
"I think my favorite memory would be our last tournament when we got the most points we've ever gotten in a game," Devantier said. "We got applause from the whole audience afterwards."
Weiss said the conference championship event was another highlight.
"I think everything really clicked for us and we just had a lot of fun," she said.
Krause said she was most proud of the team's willingness to embrace the challenge of competing as a first-year program.
"Just seeing the girls get out there and do their absolute best and at the end of the day just feel proud of what they put out there was really great to see," Krause said.
Growing the sport in Wisconsin
St. Norbert athletics hopes the program becomes a catalyst for STUNT's growth across the state.
Currently, the Green Knights remain Wisconsin's only collegiate STUNT team. Fuller said the school expects to continue building the roster through recruiting and community outreach.
Krause has traveled around Wisconsin to attend cheer competitions, introduce athletes and families to the sport, and explain collegiate opportunities.
"I know a lot of girls are interested in STUNT," Krause said. "It's been really helpful to kind of get the word out."
The program also hopes to host its first home competition in the future. St. Norbert's inaugural season consisted entirely of road events.
"We're hopeful in the springtime we'll have our first home game," Fuller said.
For athletes like Weiss, the program's presence in Wisconsin creates opportunities that previously didn't exist close to home.
"Being the first team in Wisconsin is really cool," Weiss said. "It really puts St. Norbert on the map, and it allows other women in Wisconsin to be able to go here and do cheer and do STUNT without having to move thousands of miles away."
As the Green Knights prepare for their second season, school officials believe the foundation has been established.
"We're excited for year two," Fuller said. "Like any first season, there's going to be ups, there's going to be downs, but I think we as a program learned so much about STUNT."
The inaugural season may be complete, but those involved with the program believe the growth of STUNT in Wisconsin is only beginning.
