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Flames Home > NewsLiberty Cheerleading Places Fifth at Nationals
Coach Sydnor and the Liberty Cheerleading squad with their trophy.
Over the weekend, the Liberty Cheerleading squad posted a fifth-place finish in the Universal Cheerleaders Association's (UCA) College Cheerleading National Championship, held in Orlando, Fla., at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.
Competing in the Small Coed Division I portion of the competition, Liberty was ranked sixth in their 16-team division after submitting a skills tape in November.
Head Coach Jennifer Sydnor had a very positive outlook going into the competition, which was the first time Liberty has competed at the National Championships in many years, as Sydnor put it. "We were excited to have this opportunity to represent Christ and Liberty University on the national scene," Sydnor commented.
On Saturday morning the squad competed in the semi-final round of the competition to try to earn their spot in the finals, which was contested later in the afternoon. After the entire field of 16 teams finished their routines, Liberty found that they'd move on to the finals after being scored in ninth place.
"After feeling the disappointment of this rank, we regrouped and decided that we were all committed to finishing strong, regardless of our semi-final ranking. We realized that God had blessed us tremendously and had helped us to make the final round," explained Coach Sydnor.
In the afternoon and final round of the event, the squad put together a routine which they felt even more confident in than the first.
In the evening, awards were presented and Liberty placed fifth, moving them up four spots from their semi-final rank.
Coach Sydnor wrapped up the event by saying, "We are so thankful to Liberty for allowing us this opportunity to represent the University in the national cheerleading world. We are looking forward to returning to this National Championship and doing even better than we did this year!"
View the video below to see Liberty's semi-final routine.
