Six Roanoke Valley Area Athletes Win National Championships
Lymarie Jackson
RRSPIN Sports
MYRTLE BEACH - Ten teams from the Cheer Extreme All Stars (CEA) Raleigh gym competed along with approximately 470 other teams from up and down the east coast at last week’s Spirit Sports “Battle at the Beach” National Championship in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Eight of the teams won National Championships in their divisions and two were runners up. Six athletes from the Roanoke Valley area were among the National Champions. Four of them returned home from the weekend with two new National Championships under their belt.
Battle at the Beach is a two day competition. Teams perform one routine each day, with day one counting for 25% of the total score and day two making up 75%.
The Roanoke Valley area had representatives on six of the ten CEA Raleigh teams. Emilee Hayes, 13, competed on the Large Junior 3 team which defeated 3 teams to bring home the championship banner in the division. Abby George, 12; Kendall Hathaway, 15; Emily Suiter, 17; Kristen Jones, 14; and Cailyn Jackson, 10; competed on the gym’s Senior Open Level 5 team which moved up from a third place day one placement to win the title. Suiter became a 2-time National Champion with her International All Girl Level 5 team, which will be competing at the World Championship in April. Jones and Jackson also finished the weekend with two National Championships when their Small Junior Coed Level 5 team (SJX), which recently won the prestigious NCA National Title in Dallas, also beat three teams to win Battle at the Beach for a fourth consecutive year.
Delaney Clark, 14, barely missed bringing home a championship with her Large Senior Level 3 team, which came in a close second in the large field of nine teams. Her sister, Madalyn Clark, 11, won National Titles with Large Junior 3 and Large Senior 4.2.
“Battle at the Beach has become one of the largest events in the country. We don’t see teams here from as far away as Texas or California yet, which are All Star Cheer powerhouse states, but it draws strong gyms from the North East as well as the South East and has become large enough that all divisions are packed with good talent,” said Lymarie Jackson, CEA coach. “Unfortunately, in our sport we have competitions that run with very low numbers so that champions are crowned without having to meet opposition. Thankfully, this event is not one of those, and the titles earned mean a great deal. Our two teams that came in second hit stellar routines both days and beat nine and seven teams, respectively. We are elated with our showing at this Nationals and couldn’t think of a better way to wrap up the year for our non-World’s teams.”
In All Star Cheer, teams are divided by age, number of participants, all-girl vs. coed, and difficulty level. Level 5 teams have the highest level of difficulty. Junior age teams are for athletes 14 and under, and Senior team members range in age from 10-18, except for Level 5 Senior teams, which have a bottom age limit of 12. Small and Large refers to the maximum number of athletes on the team, ranging from 20 to 36. Senior Level 5 teams must earn bids to attend the World Championship Event in Orlando Florida, April 27-29. CEA Raleigh is sending all three of their eligible teams to Worlds next month.
Suiter and Hathaway can be seen basing Jackson in the front left portion of the pyramid. Jones can be seen basing on the opposite side of Jackson and Abby George is shown flying while supporting another teammate flying in the back right corner of the pyramid. Photo by Peggy Bracey
