General 4/15/2025 11:38:00 AM

Blinn cheer and dance brings home three national titles from NCA/NDA College Nationals

The Buccaneers now have 21 combined cheer and dance championships

General 4/15/2025 11:38:00 AM

Blinn cheer and dance brings home three national titles from NCA/NDA College Nationals

The Buccaneers now have 21 combined cheer and dance championships

The Blinn College cheer and dance teams spent the weekend in Daytona, Fla., and returned to Brenham, Texas, the way they virtually always have: as national champions.

The Buccaneers' dance squad won its third consecutive Pom Junior College Division title and added the Dance Spirit Rally Open championship to its collection, while Blinn's cheer team captured the Advance All Girl Junior College title at the National Cheerleaders Association (NCA) and National Dance Alliance (NDA) College Nationals.

Blinn dance double titled for the second time in two seasons and now owns 13 NDA championships.

"Winning three out of the four routines we competed in and getting second place in the other is just outstanding," said Bucs head coach Sarah Barland, who has led Blinn dance to each of its championships. "There aren't many teams that can say they accomplished that. Everything came together for us at the right time and just worked when our kids got out on the stage. I'm so proud of everyone in this program."

Barland's dance team claimed the Pom and Team titles in 2024, and made it back-to-back double titles for the first time in program history. The Bucs also won Pom in 2023.

Blinn scored an 86.8857 (out of 100) in the Pom competition to outlast runner-up Iowa Central Community College (83.40).

In their first try in the Spirit Rally Open, the Bucs scored an 88.65 to edge runner-up and NCAA Division II program University of Texas at Dallas (87.10) and National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics program Texas Wesleyan University.

The Bucs were runners-up in the Team Performance competition.

"It's super exciting but also a little surprising because we did some things that we had never done before," said sophomore team captain Kylie Wiggins. "We just brought energy all weekend and focused on the critical things in dance like sharpness, showmanship, timing. I think we were pretty much on our game from the start."

Blinn cheer captured its first NCA title since 2019 and eighth overall.

With a score of 88.6542, the Bucs defeated Eastern Florida State College (75.5167).

It was another feather in the cap for a Blinn squad that accomplished big things this season.

The Bucs hosted and competed in the first NJCAA competitive cheer meet (against Navarro) in October before participating in the first NJCAA Competitive Cheer Invitational in February and bringing home a championship.

After a successful run heading into Daytona, sophomore Hannah Kelly said she and her team felt confident on the season's final stage.

"We believed in each other and were confident in what we were doing, so when we got out there, we were just able to have fun," Kelly said. "We stayed grounded and calm, even when things weren't hitting for us during warmups. We got out there, the nerves went away, and we did our thing the way we'd practiced all season."

The title win was the first championship for Barland's assistant and fourth-year cheer coach Amanda Logback.

"I'm so proud of our girls and extremely excited to see what comes next for all of them," Logback said. "This is a special group and I think they took ownership of this program and their performances this weekend and represented Blinn like champions."

Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 53 national championships since 1987.

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Players Mentioned

Hannah Kelly: Sophomore

Kylie Wiggins: Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Hannah Kelly
: Sophomore

Kylie Wiggins
: Sophomore