Northwestern State University of Louisiana’s cheer team made the podium in January at the Cheerleaders Association College Nationals. The team traveled to Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida and performed before judges in the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex competing with universities nationwide.
The cheer team placed higher than ever before in several of their routines. The team finished second place in Coed Game Day and fifth place in Traditional in Division 1.
The team was also named the University World Cup Cheerleading Champions for the third year in a row, while obtaining the highest ranking Game Day routine in the UWCC.
Honor Camus, senior sports and recreation major, explained that the team performed their game day routine with no mistakes and gave the best performance they have ever done for the traditional division.
Camus shared that her favorite part of nationals was competing in Game Day finals. The team went into finals in third place.
“There’s something about being the underdog that makes our team fight that much harder, and I had so much fun on the mat,” Camus said. “The team was feeling so confident and pumped up, and that really made the difference this year.”
Kelsei Spears, sophomore health and exercise science major and one of the flyer’s for the cheer team, is excited about the team’s growth from learning the routines to performing them at nationals.
“Everything was like night and day,” Spears said. “The team was so focused and confident throughout the whole time of us being there.”
Jorian Dodd, skills coach for the cheer team, expressed pride for the team’s ability to support each other in his last year as an athlete, especially with several new members.
“A lot of the rookies have never even competed before,” Dodd said. “So stepping up for the team was a lot of responsibility, and they were able to go out and execute.”
While the national competition is over, NSU cheer continues to bring school spirit to the remaining basketball games of the season and prepares for next year’s recruitment. For more information regarding the team and their upcoming events, visit this link.
