League News · 2026 Season

An Ejection, a Blocked Signing, and a Day of Firsts in Lakeland

New York Wolves rookie Steven Cupec won his race, and minutes later the referees threw him out of the match. It was the first time in five years a Grid League player had been ejected, and it came in the last match of a long Saturday in Lakeland that kept testing the rule book.

That same New York vs Tampa Bay match produced two more scenes the league had rarely, if ever, seen. A race got handed to the Wolves after the Brigade put an inactive player on the floor, and a Wolves win in the mirror was wiped out by a challenge, then won back on a rerun. Hours earlier, in the day’s opening match, the Carolina Flight became the first team to block an opponent’s roster move.

Four matches, and the dramatic moments wrote the headlines rather than the players.

If you are new to the sport, a Grid League match is a head-to-head race between two coed teams on parallel lanes of a floor called the Grid, an 80-foot stretch of barbells, rigs, and sprint lanes split into four quadrants. The winner of a race scores two points, or three in the closing Sprint Relay, and the other team scores one for finishing inside the time cap, with a team that misses the cap getting none. A coach can also throw a bonus flag on a race, a wager that adds a point to a win but hands that point to the other team if they take the race instead. The challenge flag is a separate, football-style tool: a coach or team captain asks officials to review a call, and a successful challenge can send a race back for a rerun. Both flags shaped Saturday.

The opener: Carolina Flight vs Houston Bandits

The day’s first match started with a standoff. The Houston Bandits lost single-match signing Darryl McNeil Jr. to a torn AC joint he suffered doing jiu-jitsu, then submitted a replacement under the league’s single-match signing rule. Submitting that replacement counts as a roster change, and once a roster change is on the table, the opposing team gets the option to approve or reject it. The Carolina Flight said no. It was the first time a team had ever blocked another’s roster change, and it set the tone for a match both teams played with an edge.

Carolina is the newest roster in the league and looked the part on paper. Only four players on the team had ever competed in Grid. Co-owner and coach Cody Loeffler, who played in the NPGL and spent years as a head judge, built the group in under three months. The Bandits, who joined the league in 2025 under owner-coach Sophia Davenport, had the experience and used it early.

Houston won the partner forward and the mirror, took the ladder 88-70, and led most of the way. Carolina’s first race win in franchise history came in the opening Echo, and the back half of the match belonged to the new team. The Flight took the female triad on the flip sled, a 450-pound sled the players turn end over end across the Grid, then took the male triad, and closed with a Sprint Relay win and a bonus flag. The final read 20-14 Houston, the Bandits’ second franchise win, but Carolina finished every race it could in its first day on the Grid.

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Midday: Atlanta Wild vs Fort Lauderdale Lions

The Atlanta Wild walked in as heavy underdogs. They had lost their season opener, while the Fort Lauderdale Lions arrived 1-0 after a 23-16 win over a strong Tampa Bay Brigade team to start the year. The matchup carries history too, most of it tied to Lions veteran Taylor Sturgis and his old vow to step on the Wild’s necks.

Atlanta flipped the script. Former MVP RJ Hibbard returned from injury and steadied a young roster, rookie Anna Dunn won the handstand-walk Ringer Point, and fellow first-years Trey Gordon and Gavin D’Amato kept turning up in big spots. The Wild took the ladder 82-77 and held on for the win. Both teams now sit at 1-1.

The Lions had their own run-in with the officials, challenging a fault on Briley Smith in the kettlebell lunge ringer and losing the challenge.

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Afternoon: Southwest Florida Sharks vs South Beach Palms

The Southwest Florida Sharks moved to 2-0 with a 23-13 win over a short-handed South Beach Palms, who came in missing gymnasts to injury and felt it in the body-weight races. Southwest Florida ran away with the ladder 70-42 behind Valerie Gunning, who made heavy barbells look light, and Breezy Leins closed the Sprint Relay on the final bar. The signature moment went the other way, though. Palms head coach Bryleigh Hansen beat the Sharks’ Chelsea Raineri in the back handspring Ringer Point and ended Raineri’s undefeated run in the race. Palms strongman Tyler Davis, fresh off Beast Games, also took the sandbag carry going away. The result was lopsided, but the highlights were not all one color.

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The nightcap: New York Wolves vs Tampa Bay Brigade

The Wolves closed the night with the loudest match of the day, and they did it with a roster of newcomers. Only captain Mike Rosa had competed in Grid before, and he spent last season with the Brigade, the team across the floor. Head coach Lexie Wohlfort came up as a player with the Atlanta Wild. None of it showed early.

New York won the mirror, the barbell race where both teams carry a loaded bar down the Grid and cannot let it touch the floor until the reps are done. Brigade coach Tomas Passenda challenged the rep count, the officials reviewed it, and the Wolves’ win was wiped and sent back for a partial rerun. New York won it again.

The female triad swung harder. The Brigade crossed first, but a review showed Kayla Hollings released her kettlebells forward instead of setting them under control, which forced a rerun of the final elements. On that rerun, the Brigade sent an inactive player onto the Grid, an automatic zero, and the race the Brigade had won on the floor went to the Wolves on the rule book.

The challenges kept coming. When Sydney Pawlak won a burpee-to-ring Ringer Point for the Wolves, the Brigade argued that a bubble in the floor had thrown off their player, Arianna Durrum. Officials reviewed it but could not find conclusive evidence in the clips they had that the floor affected the outcome of the race. The race stood.

Then the night’s biggest call. In a fan-voted Ringer Point Race, the one-on-one specialty race where each team sends a single player, Wolves rookie Steven Cupec beat the Brigade’s Isabella Carvalho on the kettlebell clusters. The Brigade challenged that Cupec had his gymnastics grips looped around the kettlebell handles, which is illegal. The officials agreed, but the penalty was the surprise. Cupec’s race win stood, and he was ejected for the rest of the match, the first ejection the league had seen in five years. The split decision drew debate of its own, with some arguing the penalty did not go far enough, since the Wolves kept the race win even though the equipment was ruled illegal.

New York also took the ladder 66-57 and kept the match within reach all night. The Brigade settled it where it counts, on the closing Sprint Relay, the eight-element race that works like a fourth quarter. The Wolves lost the result, but for a team with almost no Grid experience, they put on the kind of performance that makes you want to see them again. Both teams are back in action at the New York doubleheader on August 8 and 9 at the American Dream Mall.

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The commissioner and head referee give their perspective on Monday

Add it up and Saturday handed the league plenty to argue about. A blocked roster move, a wiped-and-rerun mirror, a race decided by an inactive-player zero, an ejection five years in the making, and a stack of challenge flags that changed outcomes. Players, coaches, and owners from around the league, including affected Brigade players, have already taken their swings at it on Jason’s podcast over at Jason Fitness Media.

Commissioner Mather Wiswall and head referee Brandon McMillan join Jason on Monday at 4:30 p.m. EST to give their perspective on the day’s calls.

Watch and bring your questions: youtube.com/@JasonFitnessMedia

Four matches, two debut teams, and a day that left everyone arguing about the rule book. Monday, you can hear how the people who made the calls saw it.

Up Next

The league heads to New York next for a two-day doubleheader on August 8 and 9 at the American Dream Mall, with the Wolves and Brigade both back on the Grid.

Have a question? Email us at staff@unitedgridleague.com