Maryland Captures Second Straight National Championship
April 6, 2007
The Maryland competitive cheer team won their second straight national championship Friday in front of a crowd of 4,000 at the Bandshell in Daytona Beach, Fla. The Terrapins gave a near flawless performance to tally a 9.11 score, which was almost a full point higher than their preliminary score of a 8.18.
"The two words that I kept repeating to the team all week were 'focus' and 'execution'. I never spoke to the team about defending their title; I just told them to show the fans what one year's worth of hard work looks like," said first-year head coach Jarnell Bonds. "After our disappointing prelims performance, I had the seniors speak to the team at dinner about what they have learned and how far the team has come in four years. This helped keep the team's spirit and confidence up."
The Terps received a time violation deduction on Thursday's performance that left them in sixth place. The crowd involvement mark was the only score that carried over into finals; therefore, the time violation did not factor in to finals. 2001-2005 national champions University of Louisville closely trailed Maryland with a 9.03 score followed by Kennesaw State University notching a 8.64 for third place.
This is Maryland's second national championship of the academic year; field hockey repeated as national champions this past fall. In the past two academic years, Maryland has won a total of six national championships: competitive cheer (2006 & 2007), field hockey (2005 & 2006), men's soccer (2005) and women's basketball (2006).
Final Ranking
1. University of Maryland 9.11 2. University of Louisville 9.03 3. Kennesaw State University 8.64 4. Rutgers University 8.49 5. Quinnipiac University 8.43 6. NC State 8.42 7. University of South Carolina 8.40 8. University of Pittsburgh 8.39
