Texas Southern Cheerleaders: First HBCU to Win an NCA National Championship Title
HOUSTON - The Texas Southern University Cheerleaders won the 2023 National Cheerleaders Association Cheer Spirit Rally Division I Championship in Daytona Beach, Florida, on Thursday, April 6. The Lady Tigers cheer team scored a 96.1 performance score and a 95.5875 event score over Niagara University's 85.2 performance score.
April 7, 2023; TSU Cheerleaders Win National Title at 75th NCA National Championships; Credit: TSU Cheerleaders
TSU became the first HBCU cheer team to win at the NCA National Championships in the organization's 75 years of existence.
Other HBCU Cheer teams participated and placed in the Top-20 at the NCA Championship events. Here are the teams and their performance scores:
- No. 2 - North Carolina A&T - 98.01 (Intermediate All Girl Division I)
- No. 3 - Florida A&M University - 95.22 (Intermediate All Girl Division I)
- No. 3 - Southern University - 96.18 (Intermediate Small Coed Division I)
- No. 4 - Jackson State University - 94.89 (Intermediate Small Coed Division I)
- No. 9 - Tennessee State University - 90.43 (Intermediate Small Coed Division I)
- No. 10 - Alabama A&M University - 93.93 (Intermediate All Girl Division I)
- No. 10 - Bowie State - 93.81 (Intermediate All Girl Division II)
- No. 16 - Bethune-Cookman University - 89.65 (Intermediate Small Coed Division I)
- No. 17 - Edward Waters - 82.13 (Intermediate All Girl Division II)
- No. 18 - Morgan State University - 90.40 (Intermediate All Girl Division I)
- No. 18 - Kentucky State University - 74.91 (Intermediate Small Coed Division II)
Last season, Xavier University of Louisiana's cheer team won the 2022 NAIA Competitive Cheer National Championship, the first ever for an HBCU school.