Jan. 16, 2004
College Park, Md. -- The University of Maryland's competitive cheerleading team arrived at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Ga. on Friday, the site of the 2004 Cheersport competition. Cheersport is the annual national cheerleading and dance competition, where high school, elite level and college squads compete in their respective divisions. While there are a total of 811 teams participating in this year's competition, the Terps are competing in the College Open Elite All-Girl (COEAG) division.
All teams compete on both Saturday and Sunday, with all divisions competing at the same time each day. Within divisions, the teams will compete in reverse order on Sunday. The COEAG consists of five other elite college squads: University of Georgia, NC State, University of Florida, Raleigh and Legend.
Each day a team can score up to 500 points for a total of 1000 possible points for the competition. The combined scores from Saturday and Sunday determine the final rankings. The teams will have a chance to showcase their skills in front of a panel of nine judges. The judging panel includes one head judge, two safety judges, two point deduction judges and four panel judges.
Head coach Lura Fleece is excited to see her squad represent themselves this weekend. With 12 years at the helm of the Terrapin Spirit Squad, Fleece is excited to introduce her alma mater's competitive cheer team onto the national scene.
"This is a big competition right here," Fleece said. "Our main flyer, Lauren Spates, re-injured her shoulder earlier this week which forced us to re-do our routine for Cheersport. However, the squad did a good job to pull together."
Fleece will also use this weekend as an opportunity to present Maryland's top competitive cheer program to high school recruits. On Friday evening's College Night, Fleece was able to answer questions about the program and inform college-bound cheerleaders about the "in's and out's" of cheering in college.
"This was a fantastic opportunity to meet a lot of great kids," Fleece said. "The girls will get a feel for what we have to offer by watching us compete."
The Terps are scheduled to compete at 9:38 p.m. on Saturday, fifth in their rotation.
