Pine-Richland’s Ella Armstrong signs with Oregon acro-tumbling team

By: Ted Sarneso
Saturday, December 6, 2025 | 11:01 AM

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Up until about two months ago, Pine-Richland senior Ella Armstrong was solely focused on attending college on a strictly academic basis.

For the past 13 years of her life, she had given her all to the competitive cheer scene both with the Rams and Top Gun Pittsburgh in Cranberry and was convinced she was done with the sport.

“I think she had given so much of her time to the sport and to her teams that it wasn’t exclusively a No. 1 option for her,” said Courtney Kashiwsky, who has coached Armstrong for a number of years both at Pine-Richland and Top Gun.

Among some of her accolades, Armstrong won the National Cheerleaders Association national championship in both 2022 and 2023 for the Top Gun Pittsburgh Supermodels. She also placed second in cheerleading worlds in Orlando, Fla., in 2021 and placed third at the event both in 2022 and 2023.

Things changed when Armstrong started getting contacted by colleges about joining their acrobatic and tumbling teams.

“I had two schools, Duquesne and Westminster, reach out to me,” Armstrong said. “It opened my eyes to the whole recruitment process, and I started to think maybe this is something I want to do.”

Arriving late to the recruitment process, Armstrong began to send out emails to innumerable schools to see what her options were.

Armstrong received positive responses from plenty of schools and even got accepted to a few Division I universities like Alabama while also talking with both Baylor and Oregon about joining their teams.

“I was thrilled to hear she had some interest in acro and tumbling, and I highly encouraged her to pursue the opportunity,” Kashiwsky said.

Out of the three D-I schools, Armstrong knew Oregon was at the top of the list. Kashiwsky sent along a letter of recommendation to the coach at Oregon, and Armstrong went on a visit.

After taking in a campus tour and sitting in on two of Oregon’s practices, Armstrong was ready to make her decision and signed a letter of intent Nov. 17 to attend Oregon on an athletic scholarship.

“The visit was amazing, and I knew right away that Oregon and its campus was everything I was looking for in a college and an acro program,” Armstrong said. “The energy at their practices was everything. You can see how badly the girls want it and how hard they work.”

Armstrong will join her older brothers in playing collegiate sports. Both played baseball with older brother JD playing at High Point and Tyler at East Georgia State.

“It feels good to follow in their footsteps and be involved with a college sport,” Armstrong said. “Growing up, I always did cheerleading, and a lot of people don’t count it as a sport, but I worked as hard as they did and look at where cheer has gotten me now.”

In the past four years, the Oregon Ducks’ acro and tumbling program has become one of the top programs in the nation.

The Ducks have won seven national event titles in that time span, including their 51st and 52nd individual event titles in 2023. The team also advanced to the NCATA championship semifinals in 2024 before losing to top-ranked Baylor.

Armstrong’s main background is cheerleading, and there are a lot of new things she will be tasked with learning as she makes the move to acro and tumbling, but she is up for the challenge.

“Acro and tumbling are more about technique, precision and strength,” Armstrong said. “My strength has always been a big part for me in cheerleading. I’m capable of doing harder skills in acro. It’s going to take some learning and figuring out the different ways, but with the training I have, I don’t think it will be as hard as I think.”

“Having coached at the college level before, I know they recruit very specialized athletes that will excel in certain areas for them,” Kashiwsky said. “With Ella being a very strong stunter, she should have no troubles making the transition.”

One thing is for certain: Armstrong will commit herself 100 percent to working as hard as she can to be the best acro and tumbling athlete she can.

“Ella’s always been the athlete you can truly count on as a head coach,” Kashiwsky said. “She gives everything she can and is such a versatile athlete. She’s 100 percent dedicated and where some people might walk away, she takes on adversity and runs towards it.”

Armstrong’s schedule is very demanding. She sometimes trains four or five times in a week, even two sessions a day, which include a tumbling class and a full practice.

“There are days where you won’t get as far along as you had hoped, but then there are other days where you’ll progress more quickly,” Armstrong said. “It’s all about trusting the process of what you’re doing.”

Armstrong is used to coming out on the other side of adversity as she has dyslexia and growing up, she fought hard to be a stronger person and build up her confidence.

“It was hard when I was younger just from having to be pulled out of classes,” Armstrong said. “But I had a very good community of friends and family around me that were very supportive. It taught me to believe in myself and trust that I was doing what was best for myself.”

Armstrong’s determination led her to a stellar academic career, where she has a 4.0 GPA this quarter and a cumulative GPA of 3.68.

She also had plenty of help from a speech pathologist to help her along her journey, and it’s one of the reasons she’s chosen that as a field of study at Oregon.

From all that she’s gone through, it’s a fulfilling moment for Armstrong, as she finally has a clear path set in front of her. She can’t wait to begin the next chapter in her life.

“My whole life, I didn’t know what I wanted to do after high school. All the time and energy spent, moments I’ve missed with my friends that I gave up to work for what I love, it’s worth it at the end of the day,” Armstrong said. “I didn’t give up, I trained hard, and it’s something I’m thankful that I did because I’m happier than I’ve ever been.”

Tags: Pine-Richland