Photo by: Millie Schreibman

jcrhea@mavs.coloradomesa.edu

CMU’s competitive cheer team will make the latest contribution to our trophy case this year. The team captured a fifth-place finish in the Universal Cheerleaders Association Nationals in Orlando on Jan. 19, where the 26 members of the spirit squad went in as underdogs.

The UCA is the top stage for competitive cheerleading. In the previous two years, CMU cheerleading has taken second and third at the USA college nationals, a competition pool for smaller colleges not quite at the level of the UCA.

In its first year competing in the UCA, the Maverick cheer team made quite the impression.

“Making finals at UCA earns our team a lot of respect, it’s a big deal,” senior Troy Allen said. “Especially our first year there. People from schools that we consider to be cheer gods, like Alabama, were giving us complements and congratulations.”

Allen is one of only two seniors on the team and also one of the only six returning cheerleaders. With more than half of the team being freshmen and sophomores, the Mavs were set on Nationals and revamping the team’s reputation from the start.

“From the beginning we were determined to go to Nationals,” captain Janelle Martell said. “Our coach told us we were going to compete in UCA this year and we just made it our goal. We all believed it. We worked hard and it paid off.”

The team began training two weeks before the start of the fall semester. A week of two-a-days followed by a three-day camp and then returning to another week of two sessions per day. At the end of the football season, the team began practicing seven days a week (even through the holiday break) for their Nationals appearance.

The Mavs were one of only nine teams to make the semifinals in Orlando, where the squad was able to push out Midwestern State University, a team who had regularly made the finals for the last 10 years.

“It was our first year in the UCA and we were the only team from Colorado that made it to the finals,” Martell said. “That really put us on the map and as a four-year cheerleader here at Mesa, I was very happy with what we did this year.”

Allen called this freshman class one of the most talented he had seen and that he has high hopes for the future of the cheer program that is currently working on establishing a yearly competition with the other schools of the RMAC. The goal is to give teams another chance to come together and compete.

The competition is set for March and will be held at CMU. The athletes hope that this, along with the recognition from their performance in the UCA Nationals, will bring more talent to the team and that they will continue to have success.