DAYTONA BEACH, FL -- The Fredonia Blue Devil cheerleaders competed in the final round on Friday, April 11th at the NCA Collegiate Cheerleading Nationals Championship in Daytona Beach, Florida, against sixteen other teams from across the nation; the second largest division at nationals.  After days of grass and sun practice, a few minor injuries and some mishaps, the team walked onto the mat for the prelims a bit jittery.  That day, they took a two point deduction during prelims because of a slipped hand release on an inverted skill, as well as a minor building fall. 

After reporting to a few team meetings, discussing the prelim score sheet & possible missed difficulty range in the stunt category by acuscore, they headed back to the grass for a few hours of practices.  They worked through the areas of the score sheet that could best show growth and improvement in a short amount of time and the team's confidence and mindset was reset and ready for the final round. The team walked in to finals with a prelim percent score of 83.64.  

Friday the team rediscovered their confidence and served on the mat for the final round.  Their final percent score was 85.86, over two points higher than their prelims and their stunt range was now scored in the expected difficulty range. In the end the devils final even score was 85.30, good for 14th place nationally.

"Every year this program is growing and adding difficulty in their routines as well as perfecting their technique, as that is part of the score too," said head coach Julie Troche. "All athletes and coaches walked off the finals mat with Blue Devil Pride, a feeling of joy, tears of happiness because the "Work Was Worth It!" 

Coach Troche added, "Their finals performance really showed and reflected exactly what the team wanted to showcase all year for the Blue Devils fans, athletes and family. Sometimes it just comes together in Daytona, exactly how it should." 

Fans of Fredonia State cheer are encouraged to check out Fredonia State Cheer's Instagram account @fredonia_cheer to re-watch their finals performance.