The Texas Collegiate Cheer Championship provided a new opportunity for collegiate cheerleading teams to compete, according to St. Edwards University Cheerleading Coach and Spirit Director Anne Mary Carney.

St. Edward’s, along with Carney’s company, Nationwide Cheer and Dance, hosted the competition. The competition was held in the Recreation Convocation Center on March 26.

All of the collegiate cheerleading squads in Texas were invited to compete. Six cheer squads competed in the event, including Huston-Tillotson University, St. Mary’s University, the University of Mary Hardin Baylor, Howard College, Tyler Junior College and St. Edward’s.

St. Edward’s won a first-place trophy in partner stunt, a second-place trophy in skills routine, and a second-place trophy in the cheer division. Howard College took first place in the cheer division.

The competing cheerleading squads represented Division I, Division II, and Division III schools as well as junior colleges and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.

“What’s really unique about it is this just doesn’t happen,” Carney said. “College cheerleading does not have this level of competition.”

According to Carney, 80 percent of college cheerleading is made up of small colleges and universities. The only opportunity for college cheerleaders to participate in competitions is to go to the three collegiate cheerleading competitions called Nationals in Florida or California, Carney said.

Nationals are sponsored by the National Cheerleading Association and are often broadcast on ESPN. The NCA is a part of Varsity, the governing company for high school and collegiate cheer.

“They’re pretty much geared towards elite and large universities and programs,” Carey said, in regards to the competitions organized by the NCA.

Because attending Nationals is costly, a program at a smaller university “doesn’t have the money and the support to make it all the way to Florida,” Carney said. The Texas Collegiate Cheer Championship at St. Edward’s gave schools in Texas the opportunity to compete without the high costs associated with Nationals.

“It’s an exciting thing for St. Ed’s and the fact that we’re doing it is going to give St. Ed’s a lot of recognition,” Carney said.

As a part of the event, Carney organized a coaches’ session to discuss the new competition and the new scoring sheets.

“I had new scoring sheets developed because it’s never been done before,” Carney said.

The cheerleading coach from Baylor University also spoke at the coaches’ session to discuss safety and what the Baylor cheerleading squad does to prevent accidents and injuries.

The event also provided recruiting opportunities for both St. Edward’s and the other schools in attendance, as well as networking opportunities for coaches, something Carney said “there is just not a whole lot of.”

Carney said St. Edward’s will host the Texas Collegiate Cheer Championship again next year, and the event competition will also include an area high school competition. In addition, Carney plans to have a recruiting clinic at the event, an area of college cheerleading she said is “completely neglected.”

“Junior[s] and seniors in high school in the Austin area can come after the competition and do a clinic, and all the coaches from the university are there and can recruit and watch what’s up and coming,” Carney said.

The St. Edward’s cheerleading team will also attend the Midwest Collegiate Championship at Maryville University in St. Louis, Mo. This event will be similar in nature to the Texas Collegiate Cheer Championship in that college cheerleading squads from all levels can compete without the costliness of attending Nationals.

Carney said the most important thing about the Texas Collegiate Cheer Championship and the Midwest Collegiate Championship is that they give college cheerleaders from smaller colleges and universities the opportunity to compete — something the NCA does not do.

“I think it’s a niche that they haven’t dealt with,” Carney said. “They haven’t ever made competition accessible for teams that can’t travel. And I am.”