April 8, 2005
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -
University of Maryland's competitive cheer team finished first out of 19 teams in the preliminary round of the National Cheerleading Association Division I all-girl national championships in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Thursday and heads into Friday's final round as the top seed.
The Terps scored a 8.98 (out of 10.0) on their routine Thursday afternoon to outpace perrenial power Louisville (8.69), U-Mass (8.39), Missouri (8.29), Stephen F. Austin (8.21), Oklahoma (8.18), Pittsburgh (8.07), Illinois (7.92)
and Georgia (7.81). Those nine teams all advanced to Friday's final round of competition in pursuit of the national title.
Scores from Thursday's action will not count toward Friday's final-round score. The Terps are expected to take the floor for their routine at approximately 4:10 p.m. at the Ocean Center here.
"I was extremely pleased with our performance," said head coach Lura Fleece, who is in her second season of guiding the Terrapins' two-year-old varsity competitive cheer program. "The entire unit was in sync. Now, we just need to
carry over the prelim performance into the finals. I like the mind-set of our team. It is extremely focused."
