Jacie Van de Zilver - Acrobatics & Tumbling Coach - University of Oregon Athletics

Jacie Van de Zilver

Title:
Assistant Coach, Recruiting Coordinator
Email:
jacie@uoregon.edu

Oregon acrobatics & tumbling head coach Taylor Susnara announced the hiring of Jacie Van de Zilver as an assistant coach on July 9, 2024.

2025 marked the Ducks’ strongest season to date with the addition of Van de Zilver to the coaching staff. In the season opener against Morgan State, the Ducks posted their best season-opening score since 2015 and best score under Susnara in a 281.205-256.145 victory. Oregon’s seven wins during the 2025 season mark the most since the 2018 campaign.

Van de Zilver helped guide the Ducks to their third straight NCATA National Championship appearance before coming up short against top-seeded Baylor in the final. Oregon had its’ share of individual success, taking home three event titles. Bethany Glick and Bella Swarthout earned a 9.875 in the seven-element acro to capture UO’s first-ever title in the event. Swarthout joined Blessyn McMorris, Selah Bell, Emily Rezner and Brylie Hoover who teamed up to secure the open pyramid title, which had been the Ducks’ strongest event throughout the season. Riley Watson was the third champion for Oregon, scoring a 9.775 to win the six-element tumbling title.

Blessyn McMorris and Alexis Giardina each earned NCATA all-American recognition in 2025. This marks the second season that Giardina has been named an all-American, becoming one of 12 Ducks in program history to earn multiple all-America honors during their career. This season, she competed in five of six events and was a part of the tumbling lineup that set the two highest scores since 2017 (58.275 at Baylor, 58.025 vs. Gannon) and the two highest team event scores under head coach Taylor Susnara (99.43 at Baylor, 99.18 vs. Morgan State).

McMorris became the 18th Duck to earn all-America recognition. She was named the NCATA Athlete of the Week after the Ducks' first win of the season, leading the Ducks to scores of 9.85 or better in all three pyramid heats against Morgan State. She was instrumental in both of the Ducks' 10.0 scores in open pyramid, as well as UO's fifth-ever event title in the open pyramid.

Van de Zilver joined the Ducks following a one-year stint as an assistant coach at Hawai’i Pacific. In her season in Honolulu, the Sharks entered the season as the No. 9 team nationally and went on to average 259.445 across seven meets.

“I am incredibly excited and truly blessed to embark on this new journey with the University of Oregon acrobatics and tumbling coaching staff,” Van de Zilver said. “It's an honor to contribute to such a prestigious program and help shape the future of this sport. I am eager to learn from coach Susnara and coach Nowak, as well as work alongside them as I enter into this position.”

A native of Jackson, N.J., Van de Zilver enjoyed a successful career as a student-athlete at Azusa Pacific where she competed as a top for the Cougars’ acrobatics and tumbling team from 2019-23. Van de Zilver was one of the top athletes in the sport throughout her career, earning NCATA All-America honors three times and being named the NCATA Division II Most Outstanding Athlete in her junior and senior seasons.

In Van de Zilver’s five seasons, the Cougars compiled a 21-11 record highlighted by a 4-1 mark in 2021 that included a run to the NCATA National Championship meet. In her final two seasons, Van de Zilver collected an impressive four national event titles, including a hat trick during the 2022 championships in which she won the 450 salto toss, duo tumbling pass and aerial tumbling pass.

A two-time graduate of Azusa Pacific, Van de Zilver earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2021 and went on to earn her master’s in industrial and organizational psychology in 2023.