Alaska cheerleaders travel to California for first-ever national competition

March 18, 2013

University Relations

Jamie Foland
907-474-6807

The Alaska Nanooks cheerleaders will get their first taste of competition as the team will trek down to Anaheim, Calif. the 19th annual United Spirit Association Collegiate Cheerleading Championships, which will take place March 17-18 at the Anaheim Convention Center.

“They are so excited and I'm so excited,” head coach Heather Pyland said. “This is the first time that most of them get to compete and also we get to represent Alaska. No Alaska cheer team has ever gone to a national competition.”

The USA Collegiate Championships will consist of a preliminary round on March 17, followed up by the finals on March 18. The teams competing will perform a two and a half minute routine, which will include tumbling, stunts and pyramids. All teams will advance to the final the following day and perform the exact same routine.

The Nanooks will face off against 10 other schools in the largest category, the four-year small co-educational institutions. The other programs at the event will include: Great Falls, Idaho State, Loyola Marymount, Menlo, Montana, Northern Arizona, Regina, San Diego State, San Francisco State and San Jose State.

Alaska's cheer squad, which consists of 16 members traveling, has been hard at work since students returned in January for the spring term.

“We've been practicing every single day and we work on our routine with stunts and the pyramid,” Pyland said. “We tried to increase the difficulty every day for the routine.”

For more information regarding the national championships, visit the USA website.