Tuscaloosa County High Cheer Makes School History At UCA Nationals

NORTHPORT, AL — Tuscaloosa County High School is celebrating after taking two teams to the Universal Cheerleaders Association's (UCA) National High School Championship finals for the first time in school history.

Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter and breaking news alerts.

TCHS head cheer coach Jeromy Shaw told Patch that countless hours of practice went into perfecting two routines, with his squad performing seven times between the two routines at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando over the weekend.

When it was all said and done, the team had zero deductions for each routine.

"I would first like to say, the support and encouragement from our community has been huge," Shaw said. "We have had such a wonderful year and the perseverance from this team has been wonderful. [Assistant coach] Taylor Baumgarten and I set goals for this team and they exceeded them all."

Shaw then explained that the turning point for his squad's routines started three weeks ago when the team re-centered and refocused ahead of making the trip to Orlando to compete.

"We played the song 'Promises' by Maverick City and truly believe in those words and the calling for this team to be great no matter what we face," Shaw said. "The team did everything we asked of them and we could not be more proud of them."

Shaw said after advancing on Friday, the team had an intense day of competing on Saturday and didn't even have time to eat before going to bed after midnight.

He then said the team was back up at 7:30 a.m. Sunday morning dressed and on the buses to compete again.

Despite the quick turnaround, the TCHS cheer squad logged back-to-back stellar performances in two different arenas, with the Gameday Routine going on to finish 4th in the nation out of 48 teams, while the Traditional Routine finished 9th in the nation out of 108 teams.

Other highlights from the Tuscaloosa County High School cheerleading program for the 2023-2024 season.

• UCA Camp Gameday Overall Champions
• UCA Camp Rally Routine Champions
• Space Center Regional Champions - JV Gameday
• Space Center Regional Champions - Varsity Traditional
• Space Center Regional Champions - Varsity Gameday
• AHSAA Central Regional Championships - Gameday JV
• AHSAA Central Regional Championships - Gameday Varsity
• AHSSAA State Championship - Gameday Runner-Up
• AHSAA State Championship - Traditional, 3rd
• AHSAA State Championship - JV Gameday, 3rd
• Magic City Regionals - Traditional, 4th
• Magic City Regionals - Gameday, 2nd

Have a news tip or suggestion on how I can improve Tuscaloosa Patch? Maybe you're interested in having your business become one of the latest sponsors for Tuscaloosa Patch? Email all inquiries to me at ryan.phillips@patch.com