Champs again

For the fourth time, the Seymour High School varsity and junior varsity cheerleaders, competing as an Advanced Large Varsity squad, won the National Champion award at the Jamfest Super Nationals Cheerleading Competition.

And Seymour Middle School’s cheerleaders repeated as Junior High National Champions.

About 500 teams and more than 10,000 cheerleaders from across the United States competed in the two-day event last weekend at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis.

Seymour High School cheerleading coach Carol Lambring said the squad has been practicing since June.

“The high school girls did a super job of executing their routine on Saturday during preliminaries,” Lambring said.

“They looked confident and you could tell they were having fun, too.”

The preliminary round score counts toward one-third of the squad’s overall score, and the finals score counts toward two-thirds of the overall score.

“I told the girls before prelims they must make a strong statement on day one and then seal it on day two,” Lambring said.

“On Sunday in the finals, our performance was truly amazing. The girls definitely came out to win and it showed in their performance,” Lambring added. “They sold the routine to the judges and the fans and it was their best performance ever. It was great to see their hard work pay off.”

With scores of 8.550 in the preliminary round and 8.703 in the finals, the high school squad received the National Champion award for having the highest score of the weekend out of 27 school teams. For winning their division, they won a National Championship banner and trophy for the school, National Champion jackets and caps.

The squad also received a plaque for winning the National Title of all schools competing in the Spring Floor divisions. The squad went on to win the Overall Grand Champion award, beating 26 other teams in Level 5 Advanced Teams for having the highest score and best overall performance for the weekend. For Overall Grand Champion, they received leather jackets, a trophy and banner, as well as the opportunity to be pictured in next year’s program.

Also taking home a National Championship award was the Seymour Middle School Cheerleading squad. The squad competed in the Junior High Intermediate Division (Level 3). In the preliminaries, they earned a score of 7.018 and raised their score in the finals earning a 7.318, for an overall average score of 7.218. They had the highest score of all Level 3 teams. The middle school cheerleaders received a National Champion banner and trophy for their school, National Champion jackets and caps for being the National Junior High Champions.

The Seymour Middle School Coach Jamey Lambring-Doriot said her squad has had its sight set on repeating as Junior High National Champions since the season started.

“They had outstanding performances both days,” Lambring-Doriot said. “I am very proud of them. They executed their routine confidently and you could tell they were having fun.”

Both the Seymour High School and Seymour Middle School squads also won the Grand Champion National Spirit Award and megaphone for being the most spirited school and having the most spirited fans at the event. Around 200 friends and family members helped the Seymour cheerleaders to win this award. This is the fifth year in a row that Seymour High School has won this event and the third year for Seymour Middle School.

“It was great to win the Spirit Award again,” Lambring said. “The fan support for both the high school and middle school was absolutely wonderful and it helped both the support for the high school and middle school to raise their performance level.”

Aside from all the awards, the Seymour High School cheerleaders were selected by the national magazine, “American Cheerleader,” as one of the “Top Five Best Cheerleading Squads and Programs” attending the event out of nearly 500 teams.

On Feb. 15-17, the Seymour High School cheerleaders will travel to Atlanta for the Cheersport Nationals Cheerleading Competition, which will feature more than 900 teams from across the United States. Last year, Seymour won the national title in its division at this event.

Coaches assisting both the high school and middle school cheerleading squads include Heather Davis and Summer Smith.