‘We fell to the floor’: WKU Cheer Team talks about winning national championship

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - The Western Kentucky Cheer Team brought the heat this weekend in Florida, winning the Collegiate National Championship.

WKU Cheer brought home the program’s second national championship in three years, claiming the title in the D1A All-Girl Division of the UCA Collegiate National Championship.

After placing seventh in the semifinals and being the last team in to advance into Sunday’s final round, WKU All-Girl Cheer made a stellar turnaround, scoring a perfect 92.7 with no deductions to take home the trophy.

Cheer head coach Alli Lumpkin said she and assistant coach Dalton Stanley were ecstatic when they found out they won.

’’Both Dalton and myself... we kind of just fell to the floor,” Lumpkin said.

”We wanted to push these athletes to put out a routine that was without a doubt the best in the division,” Lumpkin added.

Lumpkin said she’s most proud of her team’s work during practices and watching her athletes grow each season.

”Our athletes are able to tell the freshman and the new team members to just buy in,” Lumpkin said. “Just trust and it is going to work out in the end.”

The members of the cheer team also shared their excitement.

”First year, competing round off ups, to this year completing front one and a half ups,” Senior Tara Defoor said. ”We did still jumps, which is just insane to me, and how they came together.”

”This whole journey has been ups and downs, highs and lows, but it all at the end has totally been worth it,” Senior Ashley Burdsall said.

Copyright 2023 WAVE. All rights reserved.