News Archive
Milford Cheer Captures First National Title in Performance Routine in School History
This past weekend at the UCA National Championships at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, FL, the Milford High School Competition Cheer Team took home their first-ever National Championship with their Traditional Routine. They also captured a National Runner-Up trophy with their Gameday Routine.
Each February, the UCA (Universal Cheerleaders Association) hosts some of the best cheer teams from around the country in Orlando. There are multiple divisions based on school size, number of kids on mat, tumbling/building capabilities, and team make-up (all girls/coed). Each team must compete in a sanctioned UCA Regional event to qualify for Nationals. All teams competed in both Gameday and Performance preliminaries on Saturday.
In Gameday, Milford competed in the Large Varsity Non-Building division and scored a 95.9 in prelims to secure a firm hold of second place behind Millard West (Nebraska) High School. The top-12 teams out of 24 made it to the Gameday Finals. In Performance, MHS competed in the Small Non-Building division, and rocked it with a zero deduction prelim performance and top score of 94.5, over 3.0 points more than the second place team! The top-10 teams out of 20 qualified for Performance Finals on Sunday.
Sunday was Championship Day. In their first performance of the day, Milford Cheer put up another zero deduction score of 97.5 in their Gameday Finals routine, only 0.2 behind National Champions, Springboro High School. MHS had previously won UCA Gameday National Championships in 2019 and 2020. Their second finals routine of the weekend was in the Performance category (better known as Traditional Routine). The girls crushed it with a zero-deduction routine and an impressive score of 94.0 to earn their first Traditional National Championship in school history!!!
Full Event Results here.
Making it all the sweeter was the emotional high of winning after a deflating second place finish in Gameday, in which they were favored to win. The girls rallied together and pulled off the upset to take the Performance Division.
"After an emotional rollercoaster ride after our first routine, these girls rallied and performed with a purpose,” Milford Competitive Cheer Coach Alicia Wall stated. “I am so, so proud of them!”
“We sometimes take greatness for granted,” Milford Director of Athletics Aaron Zupka commented. “These young ladies and coaches work their tails off for 10 months a year and practice multiple days a week all year. They make their performances look easy, but it's all a byproduct of their hard work. The competitive cheerleading world is a very tough and challenging place, but our girls displayed great resiliency all weekend. I am so proud of them and I hope our school and community gives them the attention and respect they deserve. They are very special athletes.”
In addition to the UCA National Championship, the Milford Competition Cheer program wraps up their 2021-22 campaign winning their seventh straight ECC title, OHSCCA State Champions, and Grand Champions at the UCA Bluegrass Regionals & Centerville High School Competition. The team graduates six seniors but brings back a load of talent for the 2022-2023 season!
