Cheerleaders Win 5th Place in Nationals

Published: April 7, 2004.

The Lewis University Cheerleading Team captured fifth place at the National Cheerleaders Association (NCA) College Nationals in Daytona Beach, Florida.

The Flyers finished fifth in preliminary competition on Thursday, April 1 with a nearly flawless routine, securing their place in the finals with a score of 7.62 out of 10 possible points. Coach Carla Johnson accompanied the team to Florida. Cheerleader Moderator Suzanne Stamm, who is on maternity leave, cheered the team on from home.

The Flyers finished with a fifth place trophy in their division after the final competition, with a score of 7.35 in Small CoEd Division 2. Members of the team include: seniors Natasha Horstmann of Justice and Jenifer Schmidgall of Springfield; juniors Maggie Slosar of Big Rock, Ill. and Stefanie Lebre of New Lenox; sophomores Genesis Hey of Dixon, Ill., Jennifer Hayward of Elgin, Scott Moran of Romeoville, Krista Rue of Palos Hills, Ashley Sneddon of Crestwood and Sarah Skibicki of Chicago; and freshmen Katie Barney of Cary, Amundsen Brown of Chicago Heights, Arkita Luckett of Park Forest, Brandon McGhee of Chicago, and Talanda Thompson of Crete. Mascot for the team is junior Steve Oria of Orland Park.