During Southeastern’s sporting events, the spirit groups lead the way in supporting the school’s teams, win or lose. This coming weekend, however, the groups will need a little support of their own as they take their show on the road to the Universal Cheerleader Association (UCA) and Universal Dance Association (UDA) College Cheerleading and Dance Team National Championship.

On Sunday, Jan. 8, the squads gave friends, family and other supporters an exclusive look at their routines during a preview event held in the University Center at 7 p.m. The preview served as a practice session for the teams as they prepare to journey to Orlando, Fla. to compete from Jan. 13-15.

“I’m excited and ready,” said Lionette’s Captain Caitlin Caroma. “We’ve been practicing for months now and we are ready to get on the floor.”

The two spirit squads took turns performing two routines each for the crowd assembled at the University Center. The Lionettes opened with their jazz routine followed by the cheerleaders’ first routine. The Lionettes then performed their energetic hip hop routine that drew loud cheers and applause from the crowd. The cheerleaders closed the night with their second routine, asking the crowd to cheer with them as loud as they could.

When asked about the performances, Spirit Coordinator Paige Lapeyrouse described the process that goes into creating the routines for each squad.

“For cheer, the routine is made first before music is ever put to it,” said Lapeyrouse. “We know we have to have baskets, we know we have to have pyramids, we know we have to have tumbling, we know we have all those elements.”

For dance, Lapeyrouse described the process as being a little different from that of cheer.

“Usually it starts with the song, then from there what you feel from the song and then you follow a formula,” said Lapeyrouse. “We get judged on our technique, so that’s when you put in your turn sequences, your triple pirouettes, different turns. We also get judged on transitions and that plays a big role in that as well.”

According to Lapeyrouse, the competition for both squads is judged on a scale totaling 100 points. Both squads have already earned 15 of those points based on their spirit duties during Southeastern’s football and basketball seasons.

Lapeyrouse went on to describe the competition as an opportunity to see what other schools are doing on a national stage.

“You get to see what every college in the nation is doing,” said Lapeyrouse. “It’s just cool to see what they do and how they represent their university and how they bring that spirit to the competition.”

The teams themselves expressed excitement at being able to compete and each expressed hope of advancing into the final rounds of competition.

“We are trying to shoot for top five, which is going to be really, really nerve racking,” said Cheer Captain Katie Campbell.

“The past few years we’ve definitely grown as a squad and this is definitely our year to bring our best product to the floor,” said Caroma.

The squads’ performances can be seen live by going to www.varsity.com and clicking on the Varsity TV link at the top of the page. For more information on Southeastern’s spirit squads, visit www.lionsports.net and click on the Spirit Groups link in the Inside Athletics tab.