Lots to Cheer About: McKendree Takes Third at Nationals

Cheer Team Makes School History

Lebanon, Ill. — McKendree University’s cheer team had its best showing ever, receiving the third place trophy for Small Coed Division II at the National Association of Cheerleading Nationals Competition in Daytona Beach, Fla., April 8-13.

Nearly 7,000 student athletes and coaches from 35 states, Japan, Canada and Costa Rica tested their technical skills, showmanship and game day abilities in the world’s largest college cheer and dance championship meet.

Head Cheerleading Coach Bianca Timmerman could not be more proud of her hard-working 28-member squad, nearly half of which are first-year students.

“Starting this year off with a huge squad, I knew I was in for a big challenge. Once we began training for nationals, you could just see how well they worked together and how all their skills and talents started to grow,” she said. “Preparing for nationals was definitely challenging because the majority of our team had never been to nationals.”

Despite a shaky preliminary performance in Daytona, the team advanced to the finals in fourth place. “We had a short practice after prelims to change up a few things and added difficulty to help push us up in the division,” Timmermann said. “Our finals performance was amazing! We had the least amount of points in deductions and hit a routine that we knew we could do. We ended up moving to third place, which is the best in McKendree’s history. I have never seen so many smiles and tears of excitement!”

McKendree University cheerleading squad members are seniors Shelby Callahan, Bob Oeth, Clayton Revelle, Jordan Weber; juniors Juliana Hayes, Evonne Huelsmann, Jackie Koesterer, Roszell Mosley, Brittney Scott; sophomores Katie Greco, Brittany Moll, Elisha Riesterer, Victoria Steinman; and first-years Taylor Dubose-Harris, Maranda Harris, Mariah Harrison, Brendan Lawson, Jordyn Lehr, Andria McLaughlin, Tyler Meadows, Autumn Miller, Sydney Miller, Sarah Mueller, Megan Porter, Jennie Rodgers, China Rongey, Adam Strubhart and Cheyenne Stock.

Assisting Timmermann are Sara Rieger, assistant coach and Tiffany Pryor, student coach.

 

McKendree University’s cheer team celebrated at Daytona Beach following its third place trophy in theSmall Coed Division II at the National Association of Cheerleading Nationals Competition.