M Cheerleading wins second straight NCA National Championship
Big congrats to the Wolverine cheer squad. They've now won back-to-back NCA Championships! Another banner!
You can watch their championship-winning performance here.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The University of Michigan cheer team captured its second consecutive national title at the 2014 National Cheerleaders Association Collegiate Cheer Championship on Friday (April 11) at the Ocean Center.
The Wolverines claimed the crown in the Coed Intermediate I division, besting eight other teams that advanced to the final round following a preliminary round on Thursday (April 11)
"There aren't any words that can describe what it does for our student-athletes," said head coach Pam St. John. "For them to compete for Michigan on a national stage, and to be a champion for Michigan, it is huge. They give a lot to supporting the other teams, and this is their priceless moment for them to compete and to win.
Michigan sat in fourth after Thursday's preliminary round. The coaching staff faced a decision, knowing U-M's routine carried a high degree of difficulty.
"We knew we made some mistakes on Thursday, but we asked ourselves, 'How can we give our kids the best opportunity to win?'" said St. John. "We knew the things that got us deductions yesterday, could get us deductions today. But we decided to go for it, and not dumb it down -- we trusted the training and trusted the kids, and we did it."
Michigan now has three top-two finishes in the past three years, after winning the title in 2013 and finishing runner-up in 2012.
Does the NCA thing mean there is no NCAA sponsored cheerleading championship? Just curious.
Also go mens gymnastics this weekend who I believe are also going for their second straight championship.
As far as cheerleading, I think the NCA is the overarching organization regardless of the relative level of competition. To my knowledge, there isn't a strictly NCAA event per se, although I think they've sponsored the university level competitions from time to time. From what I understand (a friend who has been in such competitions), this same organization oversees high school competitions as well.
The NCA championship is a great accomplishment, I'm not trying to knock on UM's accomplishment, but UCA (universal cheerleading assoc.) is recognized as the greater of the two competition fields. Teams like Kentucky, Alabama, Memphis compete in UCA and win championships year in and year out and are very much superior. If UM is serious about being a big cheer program, they would have to step up to the UCA.
(Wife's a cheer coach and although I coach football, I still hear and learn a lot from her about cheer. Cheer is not as easy or as flowery as people make it seem. Very competitive and very hard on the body. They are sick athletes.)
Yes, competitive cheer is more gymnastics and stunts than anything else. It's not the simple chants and jumps from the 1960s.
Congrats to them all.
too soon?
No, not too soon. I was going to add a snarky comment myself, but you beat me to it.
+1
I wonder who cheers for them at that event? And can you really live up to that, if you are cheering for the national championship cheer team????
How could I have forgot?
On a serious note, congratulations to them. Always great for an M team to represent the school well, regardless of sport or division.
I should downvote you on general principles for ruining my evening with that picture, but it is Friday and I am feeling good.
Congrats to Michigan Cheerleading...leaders and best.
comment above until I saw this pic. Pay PLUS pain & suffering, wear & tear, etc.
Congratulations to the cheer team!
Its great to be a Michigan Wolverine, Go Blue!!!
The new multipurpose arena coming in 2018 will have championship banners for Cheer.
Maybe Jalen can hang his banner there.
Great job, cheerleaders.
April 11th, 2014 at 10:09 PM ^
Cheer Team = Leaders and Best. Congratulations!
Another (perhaps superficial) note I might add is that I happened to know lots of the girls on the Michigan Dance Team while in school. Justifiably so, I always believed they were some of the most attractive girls around campus. But despite having little basis for comparison, I always assumed the cheerleader girls weren't even in the same ballpark.
Now after seeing the video and images from the championship event, it seems that in all likelihood I was way off. So of the few regrets I have when looking back at college, I've got to say another could be hardly giving a moment of my time on Diag Day to one of the girls on the cheerleading squad. She was simply trying to get me to slightly consider joining the team since they needed more guys. Now it seems like a foregone opportunity to be involved with college athletics, stay in great shape, make even more friends, and get to know some very fit, good looking girls.
So to all current and future students, don't scuff, if the opportunity presents itself, don't repudiate it off the bat. The perks may actually well exceed any downside.
these people work very hard at this and it's a lot harder than meets the eye.
Well done cheer team!
April 12th, 2014 at 10:25 AM ^
HAIL!
April 12th, 2014 at 11:03 AM ^