“We had to compete in this really big place. It was like the size of the Rose Garden, and every seat was filled,” Avery Lawrence, freshman, said. The the National Cheerleaders Association All-Star National Championship was held in Dallas, Texas on March 2 and 3.

Over 20,000 athletes competed in the largest and most prestigious cheerleading and dance competition in the world. The divisions are divided up by age, skill, gym size, and nationality.

This year, three cheerleader WLHS with StyleShock Wired, a local club team, in the Level 4 Small Senior Coed Small Gym division, and Thunder Elite Ice, another local club team competed in the Level 5 Small Restricted Senior division.

“It was really shocking because we didn’t think we were going to win going into it,” Eaton said.

The team members had rehearsed their routine since September, but they still were not completely confident when they went to Dallas.

“There’s always one thing we’ll mess up on, but this time, in Dallas, we did everything and it was good,” Moore said.

The team credits their success partially to performing well under pressure and partially to just plain luck.

“We all just pulled through, we did not expect to be able to do everything, but everyone did their job,” Moore said.

It was a two day event, and every team performed two routines. The day one routines were worth 25 percent of the teams’ final scores, and the day two routines were worth 75 percent.

Lawrence, freshman, competed with Thunder Elite Ice in the Level 5 division, the team took seventh place. It was her third time competing in Dallas. According to Lawrence, the competition is always stressful, and the competitors always bring their best routines.

“They were really good, they were from all over the country I don’t really know about the judges, but the kids were amazing, it was unbelievable,” Lawrence said.