On Friday, April 11, the All-Girl Cheerleading Squad of Georgia Southern University won their fourth National Cheerleaders Association (NCA) Division I All-Girl Intermediate national championship title.

With no seniors and nine freshmen occupying the team, the GSU All-Girl Cheer Squad proved to be strong competition when they executed an outstanding routine in Daytona, Fla. They placed first consecutively on both days of the national competition earning a final score of 82.98 on day two.

“We arrived on Wednesday and competed Thursday and Friday morning. Day one there was around fifteen teams competing and then only seven teams come back on day two. We actually got first on both day one and day two,” Chloe Cotter, co-caption and junior, said.

The All-Girl Cheer Squad is no stranger to victory as they have won the national title four times in the past seven years. The first being in 2008 when they were brand new to the NCA Championships.

“We also won back to back in 2011 and 2012 and although I was a freshman I was lucky enough to be a part of the championship in 2012 as well as this one,” Cotter said.

During the length of the competition, GSU bested teams from the University of Florida, West Virginia University and The Ohio State University. The squad from East Carolina University came in second behind the Eagles with a final score of 81.63.

“We were so happy when we won that as someone from the NCA staff was trying to hand us our trophy he just had to stand there for like five minutes because we were all jumping up and down and paying no attention, so yes it was very exciting,” Cotter said.

The Coed Cheerleading Squad also knocked-off most of their competition during the championships and was able to take home a second place title in their division.

“Our Coed team competed as well and they got second, Michigan was first, but I think they did some of the best competing that I’ve ever seen from them,” Cotter said.

“I am one of the team captains along with another junior, Emily Harwood, and we definitely plan on going for it again next year. It was honestly one of the coolest experiences of my life,” Cotter said. “Just about a month ago we didn’t even have a full team due to injuries and about six girls quitting in the middle of the season, so the fact that the girls had enough heart to come together and put a full team out on the mat was so great.”