‘It Was A Very Surreal Feeling’: Penn State Cheer Place Medals Twice In National Competition

Penn State cheerleading helped make program history at the Universal Cheerleaders Association National Championships. The cheer squad placed third in both D1A SMALL COED Game Day and Traditional. With the Lionettes placing seventh in Pom and 10th in Jazz and the Nittany Lion coming in eighth for mascot, Penn State was one of six universities that placed in the top 10 in cheer, dance, and mascot.
The UCA Nationals is the competition for top cheer teams across the United States. This year, it was held from January 16 through 18 and occurs yearly at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida.
“I don’t think everyone realizes how much work we actually put into the routine we’re going to compete with, especially with there being two routines,” senior Gavin Heist said. “Allocating practice time to both of those is a lot. In the fall, we do four days a week of practices, and then leading up to nationals, we do two practices a day for a couple of weeks right before we compete.”
Not every university competes at the UCA nationals because of the level of competitiveness the competition takes. This year, the cheer squad has a special set of obstacles to overcome to compete their very best at nationals.
“There was a whole element of the College Football Playoff this year. That was a unique challenge that we weren’t really expecting,” Heist said. “Normally, we would be practicing pretty much the entire time we had to be there, but instead we had a quick turnaround, flying to Arizona, coming back, practicing for a few days, and then turning right back around and going to Miami for the Orange Bowl as well. People might not realize some of the sacrifices we have to make. In terms of our winter break, I know me personally, I was only home for six days over Christmas.”
On top of football, the cheer squad also attends other sports events and still has to balance their academics.
“[Balancing everything] was very difficult at times because we practiced four days a week — sometimes five — while doing events like football games and traveling for the playoff games,” said senior Sy’raia Maney. “It was a lot to handle, but we always knew to do our schoolwork during the day, and when we’re at practice we’re focusing on practice, not things outside of practice.”
The team first competed in Game Day the first day of the competition, in both the semifinals and the finals.
“We were expecting to make finals after our semifinal performance, so it was a relief and a confidence boost to hear our name was called going into the finals, which were later that night,” Heist said. “We knew that we couldn’t sit there and enjoy just making finals for too long. We had some adjustments to make after our semifinals performance, so we celebrated a little bit, and then realized we need to lock back in and take care of business later that evening.”
Saturday and Sunday of the competition were for the Traditional competition.
“With the Traditional routine, the semifinals were on Saturday. We thought we did well, but we weren’t sure if we were going to make finals or not. But we again gathered together as a team while they were announcing the names, and we heard them call our names and were very excited to hear that we were going on to the next day,” Heist said. “We then had a practice Saturday night, right after we found out that we made finals. We were all very happy to make finals, but we knew that we wanted more than just making finals. We wanted to go out there and get a medal.”
Getting into the finals, let alone getting third, in both Game Day and Traditional was a big accomplishment for the team.
“It was a very surreal feeling. I think we always put it as a goal for ourselves during the year, but actually hearing that didn’t feel real at the time, and so I think it made everyone really happy and a lot more confident in our team,” Maney said.
Along with it being a great accomplishment for the team, it was also one for coach Curtis White. White has been the head coach for the cheer team for 27 years and has led the team to two national championships.
“Getting into the top five in the UCA national is an accomplishment in itself. The competition is so competitive at the level we’re at,” White said. “I was excited for our team just getting to that point. It was difficult for the students to do sporting events, the College Football Playoff, practicing for nationals, and staying on top of their academics, so I’m proud of our team and what they’ve worked through.”
The placement in both Game Day and Traditional is a big boost from last year competing at nationals for the team.
“It’s not easy to get any type of medal at UCA nationals. I’m a senior on the team, and this was the first time since I’ve been here that we’ve medaled at all,” Heist said. “Especially going from last year where we didn’t even make finals in either routine to then this year, medaling in both, we were very happy with third place.”
Third in both competitions is great work, especially when looking toward the future of the program.
“From a team perspective, I feel like this accomplishment means a lot to everyone, everyone that was a part of it,” Heist said. “Going forward, next year, obviously, I won’t be here, but in terms of recruiting, seeing Penn State make a name for itself out there on the mat and show what we really can do, I think it’s going to attract even more people to want to come here. I think it was just a big win overall for the university.”
Your ad blocker is on.
Please choose an option below.
Purchase a Subscription!