NC State cheer won its eighth NCA Collegiate Cheer and Dance Championship on Friday, April 7 in one of its only major competitions of the year.
The Pack traveled to Daytona, Florida to take on the top cheer programs in the Small Coed Cheer Division IA. NC State finished its routine with a score of 96.4885 to walk away with the top prize, adding to an impressive list of accolades for the program.
The team earned a gold bid invitation to compete — a significant accomplishment considering only four gold bids are given to the entire pool of collegiate squads.
Preparation for the competition was a challenge, especially considering that the squad still needed to make appearances at basketball games throughout the season. Additionally, the team had to prepare in a year when both NC State men’s and women’s basketball made an appearance in the NCAA tournament. These games took place in Denver, Colorado and Salt Lake City, Utah, respectively, so piecing together a coherent squad poised for a first-place finish seemed nearly impossible.
“When we travel for that, we’ll travel [in] specific groups that stick together,” said assistant coach Brandon Parker. “That way they continue to progress in practice while they’re traveling for these events.”
Once the team is off the road, the Pack practices relentlessly due to such a short turnaround time until its next game, making for some nonstop weeks of cheer.
“This process is pretty intense for us just because it takes so long to work towards something that pretty much starts and finishes in less than three minutes,” Parker said. “We practice nine to 12 hours a week on top of being at other sporting events.”
However, that dedication and commitment to excellence is what ultimately put the Wolfpack in a position to claim the top prize. The hours of practice and the support from coaches, family, alumni and each other gave NC State the edge it needed to propel its winning culture forward.
“The coolest moment overall was when we hit the last skill in our routine,” said senior captain Grace Rogers. “We knew when we hit it that we’ve done everything we could possibly do to win, and when you turn around and look at the crowd, you have the most amazing fans and supporters.”
The varsity cheer squad wasn’t the only cheer team representing NC State in Daytona, as Lady Pack Cheer also made the trip. The club team raised its own funds to be able to compete in the intermediate division and place second out of 26 qualifying teams.
The club takes a different approach to cheerleading than the varsity squad, embracing a relaxed environment where cheering is treated as more of a creative outlet than a responsibility. This takes away some of the stress and pressure of performing at a high level, but also makes it harder to execute well in practice.
“We practice four hours a week, so we knew we could do well in Daytona but we also knew we were really gonna have to work for it,” said Mallory Pollard, club president and a fourth-year studying psychology. “We had not hit a single routine before we left for Daytona, so for us to hit [the routines] on both days … we were pretty impressed because we went in not feeling 100% confident.”
Given that practices leading up to the competition didn’t go so well, Lady Pack Cheer was more than content with the second place finish. A handful of the teams the Wolfpack cheered against were squads that had the advantage of daily practices as well as time spent cheering at sporting events for their respective schools, an opportunity not afforded to the club team.
“We had a lot of changes added to our routine and a lot of things thrown at us in a short period of time,” said Kayla Holloway, club vice president and a third-year studying animal science. “For us to take everything our coach had given to us and [to] execute it … second place felt really good.”
The success of Lady Pack can be attributed to the culture the club has formed over the course of the season. Daelynn Perkins, a fourth-year studying criminology, found a new home with Lady Pack after having her time on varsity cheer cut short after two seasons due to injury.
“At the end of the day, you’re not going to remember winning,” said Perkins. “You’re gonna remember those 27 girls, you’re gonna remember the relationships [and] the bonds you made.”
Although Lady Pack did not come away with the first-place trophy, the second-place trophy and the memorable season meant a lot to the team.
Both squads will look to fresh faces for leadership next year, as they continue to cheer for their fellow NC State athletes while also representing the Wolfpack in cheer competitions.
