USF cheer teams come home national champions once again

TAMPA, Fla. - There's a clanging noise that can be heard constantly on USF's campus right now. Those sounds come from the medals of yet another national title for both the USF all girls and coed cheer teams. 

"It just goes to show how hard we've worked and how much it's paid off," USF senior cheerleader Samantha Radzwilka said. 

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That hard work comes from the constant pursuit of perfection.

"It can never be perfect," USF senior cheerleader Hollyn Cate Henderson said. "We go through every single detail. There is always something that can be better. We are just striving to create the best routine possible."

Those routines were the best once again.

"We are really just a family," USF senior Sarah Wood said. "We use the word love a lot. We don't just love the sport. We love each other. We love the process. We love to work hard."

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The process resulted in an 11th combined national and world championships for both USF cheer teams. They added two more national titles and three runner-up finishes in Orlando this past weekend. 

The Bulls entered in a total of five events and medaled in all five. The USF All Girl Cheer team has now finished in the top two nationally in the All-Girl Gameday competition in four straight years. Meanwhile, the USF Coed Cheer Team has claimed five national titles in the last six seasons. 

What they're saying:

The trophy case is getting quite full, but that was never what the Bulls aimed at accomplishing. 

"Our goal is never to go out there and win a national championship," USF senior cheerleader Kayla Dick said. "Our goal is always beautiful cheerleading. Doing what we know we can do to the best of our ability."

The Bulls know what it's like to compete on the national stage every year, and it's become easier to handle.

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"We always talk about how the pressure is not on us," USF senior cheerleader Ashlyn Pinner said. "We want to apply the pressure to different teams to see if they can also do their job."

Clearly, the other teams felt that pressure, because USF did its job. They believe the culture established allows them continued success. 

"Every year is a new year for us," USF senior cheerleader Madelyn Hollis said. "We go out there and do exactly what we were trained to do. We train every single scenario, every type of situation and that way we are best prepared for whatever comes our way."

And it's that preparation that allowed the Bulls to reach the mountaintop and hear those sounds once again.

"Nothing is given everything has to be earned," USF senior cheerleader Thomas Crawford said. "I feel like we have definitely worked for what we have gotten. We never take it lightly. We pride ourselves in how well we do that and how good we are in our sport."