The cheerleaders huddled together seconds before the judge announced them as the Grand Champions of the Capital Classic Cheer Competition on Nov. 18 in Sacramento. After holding hands while he proclaimed them champions, the girls screamed and jumped up and down; their ponytails seemed to dance in their jubilation.

“The title of Grand Champions came to a surprise to the group,” coach Katie Mendenhall said. “The girls went into the competition thinking of it as an opportunity to perform in front of another crowd before they compete at the FCC Nationals in Orlando, Florida, on Jan. 3-7.”

The judges, sponsored by the Fellowship of Christian Cheerleaders (FCC), commented that the smiles and funny facials the girls maintained their interest in the routine. The top squad’s momentum, energy level and routine never slowed. The judges found it hard to look down on their critique paper.

?The judges loved the creativity of the routine and the high level of energy the girls displayed throughout the performance,? coach Mendenhall said. ?We stood out that day because of that.?

The girls? overall score was 28 out of 30 possible points. Individual sections included ?jumps and tumbling?, ?cheer and dance? and ?stunts and crowd appeal?.

The unique blend of fast paced and difficult stunts set the girls apart from the other squads, whose routines did not reach that level of complexity. The fast paced stunt combinations helped give the routine a unique sense of excitement and surprise.

?I was so excited that our basket toss with Heather (Neal) was just as high as the all-boy stunt group from Capital Christian,? Ali Byrnes, ?07, said. ?During our oral critique, the judge even commented on it. Our score in ?stunts and crowd appeal? was 9.8 out of 10.?

The twist cradles out of their stunts and barrel-rolls put the girls at the level of difficulty they needed to beat the other 10 squads including a co-ed team.

Even though the girls changed the tumbling section three days beforehand, they still preformed a near perfect routine. The oral critique judge said specifically keep working on the new section by adding more difficult tumble passes.

?I think that we have room for improvement in our tumbling,? Megan Alcorn, ’07, said. ?I think that by our next competition, we will score a lot higher in that section because we will be adding more back-handsprings.?

The girls continue to practice in preparation for the FCC Southern California Kick-Off at Whitter High School on Dec. 2. The team is scheduled to leave campus at 5:30 A.M. and the JV team will perform at 11:32 A.M. while varsity will compete at 2:10 P.M. For a complete listing of schools participating in the competition, click on FCC Southern California Kick-Off at Whitter High.

For a group photo of the Capital Christian Grand Champions, go to the photo section of this paper or click on Cheer named Grand Champions.