Temple Gymnastics to Open 2026 Season at Rutgers

Sunday, January 4

Piscataway, NJ

2:00 PM

Temple University

Rutgers University

Temple Gymnastics to Open 2026 Season at Rutgers

1.2.26 | Women's Gymnastics

Watch (Big 10 Plus)Meet Notes

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Temple Owls are set to begin the 2026 gymnastics season on the road against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the SUNY Brockport Golden Eagles on Sunday, Jan. 4 at 2:00 pm. The meet will be held on the campus of Rutgers University inside of Jersey Mike's Arena.

THE 2026 TEMPLE OWLS
Temple comes into the 2026 season with some new faces on the roster. The Owls finished last season with an overall 11-18 record, going 3-5 in EAGL conference meets. The season ended with a breakout performance for the Owls in the 2025 EAGL Championships. The Cherry & White finished the championships with the team's best overall score of the year (195.775) and a second-place finish. Senior leaders Brooke Donabedian and Renee Schugman, and even sophomore Kyrstin Johnson all scored at least a 9.875 on floor to propel the Owls into the second-place spot.

This year's team features one senior compared to last year's six. Senior Reese DeHaan comes into 2026 leading the way for the Owls after a strong year last year. Temple has a strong junior class of eight student-athletes: Hailey Best, Mariella Brueck, Amelia Budd, Kyrstin Johnson, Payton Monk, Gianna Silva, Hannah Weklar, and Megan White. The sophomore class for this year's team is as follows: Robyn Dunne, Harmony Haro, Nazstazia-Simone Henry-Jubitana, Madison Ley, Kaitlyn McKnight, Emma Reathaford, Nikki Rengifo, and Breanna Varano. Head coach Hilary Steele welcomed in nine freshmen to the 2026 roster: Ella Beck, Anjali Buradagunta, Tali Flanigan, Jade Harden, Ava Kelly, Katelynn Sherman, Ella Soles, Ava Sutphen, and Brooklyn Thomas.

The Owls will face some big-time competition throughout the season. The schedule runs through March 21, 2026, when Temple competes in the EAGL Championships in Brookville, N.Y., hosted by LIU. The slate features seven opposing schools from a Power Four conference. The season will kick off against Rutgers and just five days later Temple will travel to Gainesville, Fla. to face the Florida Gators, North Carolina Tar Heels, and West Virginia Mountaineers. At the end of January, the Owls will hit the road and travel to Coach Steel's alma mater, the Georgia Bulldogs. To close out the month of February, Temple will head west on Interstate-76 to the Steel City and take part in a meet at the University of Pittsburgh. In three-straight meets in the month of March, Temple and the Maryland Terrapins will face off, once in Philadelphia, once in College Park, Md., and once in Washington, D.C.

Temple will compete at home five times this season inside McGonigle Hall. The home-opener will be on Saturday, Jan. 17 at 3:00 pm against LIU for Alumni Night. Just six days later on Friday, Jan. 23 the Owls will welcome in George Washington, Penn, and Texas Woman's University to McGonigle Hall at 6:00 pm. This will be the team's Military Appreciation Night. Senior night will be on Friday, Feb. 13 at 6:00 pm when Temple takes on William & Mary, Brown, and Yale. One week later, the Owls will compete at home in a dual meet with Eastern Michigan on Friday, Feb. 20 at 6:00 pm. The final home meet of the season will be on Thursday, March 5 at 5:00 pm. Temple will battle Maryland, Penn, and Towson in Philadelphia.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
The Rutgers Scarlet Knights will ring in a new era in Piscataway, N.J. as Anastasia Candia was announced in April as the newly appointed head coach. Candia has been with the program in various roles for over a decade of Rutgers gymnastics, most recently as the acting head coach during the 2025 season. Back in her days as a member of the Rutgers gymnastics team, Candia was a four-year letterwinner across three events for the Scarlet Knights from 2012-15. Rutgers finished 2025 16-9 overall and 1-8 in Big Ten play. At the Big Ten Championships, Rutgers finished 8th out of 12 teams and ultimately received a bid to the NCAA Regional Championships where it lost to the Clemson Tigers.

The SUNY Brockport Golden Eagles, led by Dr. Rene Lyst, enter 2026 off its fifth NCGA East Region Title in a row. Brockport finished 2025 10-3 overall record. Sophomore Lienna Kay finished last season with a bang as she took the east regional crown on the balance beam and claimed silved on the uneven bars. Kay also notched co-champion on the balance beam in the 2025 NCGA National Championship. Kiara Hockman, another sophomore, finished with a first-place finish on the vault in the east regional meet.

UP NEXT
The Owls will remain on the road in its second meet of the season as the team will travel to Gainesville, Fla. The Florida Gators of the SEC will host Temple, North Carolina, and West Virginia on Friday, Jan. 9 at 6:45 pm. The meet will be streamed on SEC Network+.