Colorado University Athletics
CU Cheer Squad Nabs Eighth at Nationals
April 14, 2005
BOULDER -- The
CU competed in the Division 1A small co-ed category, a section that permits teams to use 20 female members and only four males. Head coach Travis Prior made the decision to enter his team in this division because the Buffs cheer squad sports a very strong contingent of females and has a smaller male base.
Heading into the finals, CU stood fifth overall after the preliminary competition by having recorded a score of 8.4 in the round. The National Cheerleaders Association’s style of scoring is very similar to gymnastics in that there is a start value of 10. With this, there are specific elements that must be completed at high levels of execution by the majority of the team in order to score in each area of a routine to that 10-point level.
“In preliminary competition we had a good routine with .3 in deductions, so our score was a solid 8.4,” Prior noted. “Had the other teams in front of us scored the same in prelims and we performed without deduction we could have gone into finals in first place.”
In what Prior called “a very positive nature” of CU’s routine was that without the .3 deduction, the Buffs would have been right in the mix of the top three teams after prelims with an 8.7 mark. Overall this would have placed them third going into the finals shortly behind the leader,
“This proved that our routine and skill rank right up there with the top teams in our category,” Prior added. “We had a very successful trip. We just did not execute very well in the finals.”
The NCA Cheer and Dance Collegiate Championship is the largest event of its kind in the world. With teams migrating to
Taking home top honors at the event were the Cardinals of Louisville, followed by two-time defending champion Houston. Florida International (third),
