After capturing a pair of national titles last season, the Northwest cheer and dance programs returned to Orlando last weekend with more trophies and medals in sight.
Competing at the UCA/UDA College Nationals at Walt Disney World Resort, Northwest cheer and dance racked up three championships, with the cheer program earning gold medals in the Open Co-Ed Game Day and Open All-Girl Traditional divisions. Meanwhile, the dance program locked up its second consecutive national title in the Open Hip-Hop division.
In the Open Co-Ed Game Day finals, Northwest earned a raw and event score of 94.8333. The Rangers finished ahead of Mississippi Gulf Coast, which came away with an event score of 92.0333 after two deductions. Campbellsville University finished third in the event with an 86.2667 event score.
"It was a great feeling to finally win that division again," Northwest cheer coach Brandon Casey said. "We haven't won the Open Co-Ed Game Day division since 2021, which was our first year back in competition. [Assistant coach Rainy Bordelon] did an amazing job choreographing that routine and changing things when we needed to change them. The kids pulled everything together for the finals and performed accordingly."
In the Open All-Girl Traditional cheer division, Northwest rebounded from a second-place finish in the semifinals to score an 82.9 mark with no deductions in the finals. The Rangers finished ahead of six other schools, including runners-up Pearl River, which earned an 81.2 event score.
In dance, coach Patrice Christian’s squad posted a raw score of 97.85 in the Open Hip-Hop Semifinals, advancing to the finals with 93.1905 event score. Northwest was one of 21 competing schools in the division and one of 11 to advance to the finals.
Northwest never faltered from its No. 1 spot in the finals, as the Rangers finished with a 99.9333 raw score and a 95.1746 event score. West Chester University, the runners-up in the Open Hip-Hop Finals, finished nearly five points behind Northwest.
Northwest also competed in several other divisions, with cheer locking up a pair of silver medals in the Open All-Girl Game Day finals and the Open Small Co-Ed Traditional division. The Ranger dance team also finished with a bronze medal in the Open Dance Game Day finals.
Additionally, the Northwest cheer program also competed in the Girls '4' Group Stunt division, which featured a slew of competitors from Division I programs. As one of 16 groups competing, the Rangers' Allee Belle McMinn, Lorie Buckley, Zoe Boos and Mabree Phillips finished 15th overall with a score of 75.1, but placed higher than the University of Texas.
