California Baptist University’s champion cheerleading team is no stranger to winning big competitions, and they added another title to their resume with their fourth consecutive USA College Championship title on March 23.
The USA College Championship competition is the largest on the West Coast. The win is only one stop on the team’s way to Daytona, Florida, where they will leave it all on the floor in hopes of gaining their third National Cheerleaders Association Championship.
The team went up against NCAA Division I Northern Arizona University and beat them by almost 10 points to take first place, with a final score of 92.53 points in comparison to NAU’s 82.82 points.
“The USA event is always a huge stepping stone for us on the road to nationals as it helps us prepare both physically and mentally,” said Tami Fleming, head coach of the cheerleading team. “This is the most talented cheer team we have ever had at CBU and I can’t wait to see what they do at the national level.”
In addition to the Lancers taking home a fourth-consecutive title, four women made history as they were the first stunt group to compete and they took second place with a score of 85.07, nearly four points behind California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
Raven Rivera, sophomore biology major; Katarina McKnight, sophomore accounting major; Briana Davee, sophomore nursing major; and Taylor Hendricksen, sophomore kinesiology major, comprised the stunt group.
“I have been stunting for about seven years, and this year is the first year the four of us have stunted together,” McKnight said. “We have been working hard to come up with our routine, and for the next couple of weeks we are scheduling more practices so that we can be ready for nationals.”
As a stunt group, they have already qualified for the stunt competition at the NCA Championship in Daytona, and the group members said they are looking forward to it.
The last stop on the road to Daytona is the Cheer Showcase hosted by CBU in the Van Dyne Gym on April 2. The team will head to Florida just a week later to see if they can make history as the only all-women team to win their third consecutive NCA Championship.
