After winning nationals the year prior, Missouri’s coed team put up two good routines to secure the second consecutive championship.
Every year, Missouri cheer competes in Daytona Beach, Florida at the National Cheer Association’s college nationals. In 2023, the coed team took home their first national title in the Intermediate Large Coed division. On April 12, they were able to repeat that national title.
At Nationals, each team competes twice. The preliminary round is worth 25% of the overall event score. Missouri competed in preliminaries on April 11. Throughout the routine, the Tigers had 0.25 taken off of the raw score or score without deductions. This came from a slight bobble and formation movement from a stunt group.This was the lowest deduction taken from any team in the division resulting in a score of 85.5333. The Tigers were securely in first place followed by the second-place Kansas State Wildcats who scored 83.5667.
Missouri was one of 10 teams to compete in finals which is worth 75% of your total score. On day two, Missouri “hit zero,” which for cheerleaders means the team had no major deductions to its score. The Tigers’ stunts, pyramids, tumbling and jumps were perfectly executed with no wobbles or falls. Missouri was rewarded with a 85.8333 performance score. They finished in first over the second place East Carolina and took home the NCA Intermediate Large Coed Division 1A trophy.
Missouri’s all-girl squad competed in prelims on April 12. Contrary to the coed team, Missouri’s all-girl competes in the Advanced Division 1A division. This means they are up against tougher teams and competing in harder skills like pyramid stunts with two or more people in the air. The Tigers scored a 92.5667 this round after losing 0.75 points in deductions. The team qualified to finals after sitting in fourth place under Clemson, Louisville and Oklahoma State. Day two did not go quite as well for the Tigers and Missouri finished with a score of 89.7542 and a No. 6 finish.
Truman the Tiger also competed in the mascot category. Truman won the division with a 92.500 score and beat out South Carolina’s Cocky and North Texas’ Scrappy the Eagle.
Missouri cheer will head back to Daytona next year with hopes of earning three national championships in a row.
Edited by Dylan Heinrich
Copy edited by Sterling Sewell | ssewell@themaneater.com Edited by Genevieve Smith | gsmith@themaneater.com