Grid League 2026 – Palms vs Sharks: Shorthanded Palms Fall 23-13 but Steal Two

Tyler Davis reached down, wrapped up a 200-pound sandbag, threw it on his shoulder like a duffel, and walked it down the Grid before the Sharks’ man had it off the floor. That was the South Beach Palms at their best on Saturday. The problem was the other eleven races. The South Beach Palms lost 23-13 to the Southwest Florida Sharks in Lakeland, a match they walked into without the gymnasts they needed most.

For the uninitiated: a Grid match is two coed teams racing head-to-head down an 80-foot floor split into four quadrants, each one heavier or harder than the last. Twelve races, points on every one. The Palms came in short on the bodyweight specialists who carry the gymnastics-heavy races, and against the defending champions that is the worst possible night to be missing pieces.

The math turned early

South Beach kept the opening Partner Forward close, with rookie Clark Lawson trading reps against the Sharks’ returning MVP before Southwest Florida edged ahead. They held tight in the Mirror, the barbell race where a dropped bar sends the whole team back to the start line. Then the first Ringer Point asked for a lateral handstand walk through an obstacle course, and the Palms could not finish it. A zero there, a slim loss in the Echo depth races, and a Ladder that got away 70 to 42, and the Palms were down 13-4 at the half.

None of that was for lack of effort. Heather Hudson was cleaning up bodyweight reps she should not have had to take, fighting through a recent illness. Kory Hendon and Artur Cabral kept finishing races inside the time cap to bank the loser’s point rather than surrender it, which matters more than the scoreboard suggests. Race times are a tiebreaker for playoff seeding this season, so every clean finish is worth chasing even in a match that is gone.

Two races the Palms can build on

The sandbag carry was the payoff for a smart call. Davis is a strongman, this is the kind of grunt work he does in his sleep, and owner-coach Bryleigh Hansen put the team’s bonus flag on it, turning a two-point win into three. Davis ran it down and the Sharks’ Zaien Zafra tripped at the start and took a zero.

Then Hansen handed the Palms their best highlight herself. The fans voted the final ringer to a 40-foot back handspring, and Hansen went head-to-head with the Sharks’ Chelsea Reiner, who had not lost the race. Reiner got out ahead, sprang a touch too far past her line, and Hansen reeled her in for the win. Two races stolen against a 2-0 team, both with veterans the Palms will lean on all year.

We love sandbags. I pick up sandbags. That’s kind of my thing.

Tyler Davis, South Beach Palms

The Palms sit 0-2, and the record looks worse than the team is. This was a bad matchup on a short week against the defending champions, in the one format that punishes missing gymnasts. Get healthy, get the bodyweight specialists back on the Grid, and the races that ran away on Saturday are the ones South Beach can flip. The fight was there to the last rep. The roster just was not whole.

Race-by-race results

The Palms are the official South Beach team of the United Grid League

Coed teams racing head-to-head, and the 2026 season is just getting started.

Get Tickets
Watch the Full Match
Meet the Palms
Shop Palms Gear
How Grid League Works

Up Next