TVCC Cheerleaders in second place

The Cardinal Cheerleaders will be presenting their 2013 national competition routine free to the public at 7 p.m. Monday at Cardinal Gym. The team is traveling to Daytona, Fla., this week for national competition. (COURTESY PHOTO)
The Cardinal Cheerleaders will be presenting their 2013 national competition routine free to the public at 7 p.m. Monday at Cardinal Gym. The team is traveling to Daytona, Fla., this week for national competition. (COURTESY PHOTO)

Following the end of the first round of national competition Thursday, the Trinity Valley Community College Cheerleaders were in second place.

The TVCC team was awarded a first-round score of 95.88, coming in hot on the heels of Corsicana’s Navarro College.

TVCC competed against five other college teams in the first round of the National Cheerleaders Association Collegiate Cheer and Dance Championship, which is held each year in Daytona Beach, Fla.

The top three teams in the first round were guaranteed a place in Friday’s final round of competition. The other three were scheduled to face off against each other Thursday evening, vying for the fourth seat in the final round.

“I am extremely pleased with how well our students represented themselves today. We have a few things we can adjust and I feel like we are in a great place for finals,” said TVCC Cheerleading Coach Khris Franklin.

“Our team was simply awesome to watch. TVCC should be proud of the job these young men and women are doing here,” said TVCC Executive Director of Student Life Dr. Charles Hueber, who is traveling with the team.

Overall, TVCC came in 1.65 points behind Navarro’s lead score of 97.53. Weatherford College placed third, trailing TVCC by 1.35 points with a 94.53 out of a possible 100.

The other three teams in the junior college division of the competition were Wallace State Community College in Alabama, Mt. San Antonio College in California and Iowa Central Community College in Iowa. Those three teams scored a 91.45, 88.15 and 86.40 respectively.

The finals round of competition is expected to take place between 11:30 a.m. and 1:45 p.m. Friday. The awards ceremony is set to begin at approximately 1:45.