Long Island University will add a gymnastics program for the 2021 season. LIU will compete as an associate member of the EAGL conference.

While we are still awaiting a press release confirming the addition of, and details regarding, the new program, the LIU Athletics site posted a recruiting survey for prospective athletes today, announcing that the University “will begin to sponsor women’s gymnastics as an NCAA varsity sport beginning in the 2020-21 season.” (UPDATE: LIU shared a press release on March 5.)

The LIU Sharks compete as a unified athletics team encompassing both of the University’s two locations. It is unknown whether the gymnastics team will be housed at the Brooklyn or Brookville campus.

Christina Chauvenet, commentator for EAGL programs, including the upcoming EAGL championships, is excited to welcome a new program into the fold. “The level of competition in the EAGL is stronger than ever, and the conference has a growing fan base. It is so exciting to see the conference grow with the addition of LIU to the EAGL!”

Fielding a team for the 2021 season is ambitious, but the program will have a strong recruiting pool from area clubs like Galaxy (Alisa Sheremeta, Amara Cunningham, Nicole Hoffman, Leah Gneco), Gold Medal (Alexis Richardson), NYC Elite (Grace Garcia) and Chelsea Piers (Maya Reimers, Gemma Guttenberg, Rachel de la Torre). Current collegiate gymnasts in the transfer portal will also be able to consider transferring to LIU.

We have reached out to the LIU athletic department for comment.

Long Island University fast facts:

Campus locations: Brooklyn (LIU-Brooklyn) and Brookville (LIU-Post)

Mascot: Sharks

Colors: Blue and gold

Enrollment: 15,197

Primary conference: Northeast Conference

Gymnastics conference: EAGL

Athletic director: William Martinov Jr.

This article has been edited to include relevant sourcing and clarify that there has been no official announcement made by the university at this time. We will continue to update this story as more details become available.

Update (3/5/2020 at 12:08 ET): The article has been updated to include the university’s press release and gymnastics competition conference.

Update (3/5/2020 at 3:14 ET): The article has been updated to include a statement form Christina Chauvenet.

Article by Emily Minehart

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