Student Journalism @ Barton Community College

McKenna Mitchell, Student Journalist

Barton Community College

Great Bend, Kan.

 

First Published 7 May 2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

National Cheer Association and National Dance Association Collegiate Nationals in Daytona, Florida were held the week of April 9-13.  Barton Cheer and Dance spent countless hours practicing and perfecting their routines for this competition.

 

Cheer competed Friday, April 10 in Intermediate Coed Division II against 17 teams. Prelims were early in the day on the Bandshell and Barton Cheer did not make the finals.  Fortunatly, Barton got another chance during the challenge cup and came out in first place advancing to finals. Finals were held Saturday morning in the Ocean Center. Barton Cheer finished in tenth place at Nationals.

 

“Nationals went well.  We got first in the challenge cup which qualified us for finals. Although finals wasn’t our best performance, it wasn’t too bad. I felt great. I love the adrenaline rush,” said Jose Chavarria.

 

Juan Castaneda, Captain of the Cheer team,  said “watching these brand new individuals develop into a competitive team throughout the year was really rewarding as a captain. The energy that our team had arriving at Daytona Beach was unbelievable. We were there for one thing only and we did that in a fashion that I had never seen from our team. We left blood, sweat and tears as we fought through during our countless hours of practice on that Nationals mat. I’m extremely proud to have been a part of not only this team, but this family as well.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dance placed seventh in Division III prelims on Friday, advancing to the Saturday finals.  They finished in seventh place.

 

Said Alyson Smith, a member of the Dance team, “it was a life changing experience! We worked hard all year long, and went and achieved what we had set out to do.”