Acrobatics & Tumbling is Building a Program and a Path Forward

​When the final skill is landed and the judges have seen everything, the pressure lifts all at once. You can see it happen – the months of early mornings, weight room sessions, and relentless practice dissolve in an instant, replaced by something simpler: relief, joy, and the quiet certainty that they did it.

Danielle Cutri has watched that moment play out many times, first as a student-athlete at Fairmont State and now as head coach of the University’s Acrobatics and Tumbling program. This season, she had plenty of opportunities to witness it again.

​The Falcons captured their second consecutive Mountain East Conference Championship, finishing the regular season with an unblemished 11-0. For Cutri, it marks her fourth conference title as head coach in six years. She credits her record not to wins and losses, but to something deeper.

“I can always say it’s our win and loss record,” she said. “But I don’t think it’s that. I think it’s the culture that this program has built.”

That culture grew out of relationships Cutri herself experienced as a student-athlete here. She came to Fairmont State unfamiliar with the emerging sport, was encouraged to try it by program founder Kristi Kiefer, and went on to become a four-time All-American. She moved into coaching after graduation, and when Kiefer retired, she passed the torch directly. “This program was made for you,” Kiefer told her. Cutri took the job as head coach in 2020 and hasn’t looked back.
 
For those new to the sport, acrobatics and tumbling draws from gymnastics and acrobatic gymnastics, combining them with elements of competitive cheer into a multi-event competition that unfolds over roughly two hours. It was created, in part, to give talented gymnasts somewhere to go after high school.

Before programs like Fairmont State’s existed, the path simply ended. The sport has grown from roughly six collegiate programs when Cutri first competed to approximately 55 today, and beginning in spring 2027, it will hold its first-ever NCAA Championship.

The path to this season’s conference title wasn’t always clean. Perfection, Cutri will tell you, isn’t the point until it counts. At the MEC Championship, her athletes hit a perfect meet when it mattered most.

A video from that moment circulated on the team’s social media after the event. In it, four athletes complete their routine, their faces locked in concentration – and then, in the span of a breath, everything shifted from intensity to joy as they realized they’d done it. The weight of the moment was visible and emotional.

“As soon as they hit that last skill, you see the smiles and the tears,” Cutri said. “Everything that they worked for all season, they did it. Two of the team members in the performing group were competing for the last time in the Feaster Center and it was a powerful moment for the entire team.”

Her athletes train five to six days a week, regularly reaching the NCAA’s 20-hour weekly athletic limit while carrying full academic loads. Cutri responds to this reality not with harder demands, but with the care and grace of a natural leader.

She holds what she calls “tea times” – one-on-one walks or conversations with student-athletes, about anything except athletics. She conducts random grade checks. She extends mental health days with no questions asked, save two: Are you okay? Is there anything I can do to help?

“I always tell them: you’re a human first, before you’re ever a student or an athlete,” she said. “If we’re not taking care of them, I’m not doing my job.”

None of the program’s national-level competition happens without donor support. Until the sport’s first NCAA Championship in 2026-27, programs like Fairmont State’s receive no financial incentives for postseason participation.

During this year’s Day of Giving, the Acrobatics and Tumbling team raised $25,000 driven, fittingly, by the team’s competitive instincts. Cutri offered a small incentive: whichever class sent the most donor outreach messages would earn a branded item of their choice. One class alone sent 748 messages. “This was eye-opening for me. We have so many people who show up for us,” Cutri said. “Their generosity supports our program in ways that immediately improve the student-athlete experience.”

​That giving made possible this year’s flights to the national championships, new equipment, and opportunities that rival what Division I programs offer.

Looking ahead, the program’s competition and training mats – now five years old – need replacing. New competition mats run between $10,000 and $13,000, with additional training mats adding several thousand more. “I would love for donors to know that you’re directly impacting the success of this program,” Cutri said. “It’s not just about paying for scholarships. It’s about keeping a good culture here and providing these student-athletes with life-changing experiences.”

That was on display at the 2026 NCATA National Championships in Azusa, California, where the Falcons competed on a national stage in late April. Seeded fourth in an eight-team field, Fairmont State defeated fifth-seeded Augustana in the quarterfinals to advance to the national semifinals – the first time the program had reached that stage in over a decade. The Falcons qualified for seven events and finished the season with a record-breaking 12-1.

Individual honors also reflected the depth of the program’s success. Cutri was named NCATA Division II Coach of the Year. The team claimed Division II Most Outstanding Player of the Year, Division II Specialist of the Year, two First Team All-Americans, one Second Team All-American, one All-Academic honoree, and the Colleen Kausrud Leadership Award.

With 11 newcomers joining the roster for the upcoming year, the team continues to grow. “The future is bright for Fairmont State Acrobatics and Tumbling,” Cutri said – and this season’s successes provide the proof.

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