YAY!!!!!

OH. MY. GOSH. They won! They won! They won!

We call this ACP competition "Big Nationals," and there were 7,000 cheerleaders participating this weekend. We're talking BIG.

The past couple of years, DD's cheer teams have gotten used to winning first and high point in most of their competitions, but this one enormous Nationals gets them every.... single... year. It's always something different. Early on, it was regional champion teams that showed up for only the second day and wiped them off the scoreboard. Then it was aaallllmooooost getting first, but not quite. It's been so tough for them at this particular event.

Juniors were fantastic both days. Seniors were awesome the first day, but had a dropped stunt on the second day. Since Day 2 counts for 75% of their final score, we were pretty sure they had been knocked out of first place, where both teams were after Day 1. During awards, we were so nervous and were expecting to get, at most, second place. The kids were huddled together, expecting the same thing. When they got to the second place announcement, and another team was called, everyone freaked out. It was total pandemonium. Despite having a major error on Day 2, they still won. They were that good. The tears were flowing all around, including the coaches'.

Juniors were pretty much the obvious first-place winners of their division this time, so while it wasn't as much of a nail-biter, it was just as exciting when they won.

In the end, both the junior and senior teams finally get that ever-elusive gold medal (WOO!). They also got the gorgeous leather National Champion letter jacket, so DD now has two of them. She'd probably wear them both together if she could. It would be nice to get some cold weather in Austin!