TALLAHASSEE, Fl. (WTXL) - Across the walls at Cheer Nation Athletics in Tallahassee, are banners, and now, there's a new one to add to the collection.
"Having such a big title and showing them what a big deal it is, for such a small town, it's crazy," said Emily Johnston, who cheers for Cheer Nation's Apex team.
For a small town, there are big titles. Apex went to the National Cheerleaders Association's All-Star Nationals in early March, and brought home a National Championship.
"I don't think I heard our named called honestly," laughed owner Dustin Baker. "The second place team was walking off and the streamers were flying down, and I heard 'Cheer Nation Athletics is your new Champion!' That's all I remember. I don't think I heard our name be called."
"Our coaches were going insane, hugging each other, jumping all over the place," remembered Kayla Powers, another cheerleader on Apex. "It was just insane."
They were insane for a reason. After day one, Apex sat in fourth place.
"For our season so far, we'd never been in fourth before. We were baffled," said owner Dana Brown. "How do we fix this? How do we get on top of our goal?"
"We talked about aggression. We talked about passion. We talked about why the do what they do and why we're here," added Baker. "I think they really bought into it and bought into what we were saying and it showed on stage for sure."
From fourth to first, and in turn, a trophy, medals, new jackets, were brought back to Tallahassee. Now Apex is motivating others with their fighting mentality.
"They opened the door to the future for all the teams," said Brown. "Now, showing up there in future years, teams are going to go, oh no, Cheer Nation is back."
"I'm still like shocked and amazed that we could actually pull that off," smiled Powers. "It's just such a big accomplishment."
An accomplishment that will look real nice up on the wall.
