"I think last year we went in very confident and feeling our team was really, really strong, and this year, we thought we basically had a brand-new team of athletes with no experience," said El-Gabalawy, adding that Simon Fraser University, ranked No. 3 in Canada, was a particularly scary opponent.

"Actually there's a part of our routine where a guy goes up in the air and stands on the girls," El-Gabalawy said. "We throw him up in the air and then we throw a girl on top of him. They do it all. They jump, they have to do the dance, they throw girls all through the competition."