Cheerleading | 4/9/2019 5:56:00 PM

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Davenport NCA Cheer team made their annual trip to nationals on April 4-5 and competed in the All-Girl Division II grouping. The team had a great showing as they were second in the prelims and also finished second overall in the division after the finals. The team's choreography score of 9.8 was the highest in the competition among the six teams. They also had the highest pyramid difficulty score at 4.8.

The Panthers scored 95.85 in the finals as Oklahoma Baptist won the event with a score of 97.53. DU received all 4.8 points in the pyramids portion as well as 4.7 in standing tumbling.

"NCA Nationals is a highly anticipated event for us," said head coach Celia Allen-Hames. "DU has competed at this prestigious event for 10 years now, and we do our best to step up our game every year. This season was no exception. We start our season asking a simple question to each of our athletes. What is your why? Over the course of the season, this question resurfaces and is the basis of our culture and what we derive from when the pressure is on." 

The team completed the most difficult routine in Davenport Cheer history. The team was a five-time NCA National Champion in Division 3 All-Girl Advanced before moving into this new division as the athletic department is in the process of going NCAA Division II.