Eastern Florida State College Cheerleading Team Earns Third Place at Collegiate Nationals Competition

By Michael Parsons, Eastern Florida State College // May 12, 2023

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The Eastern Florida State College cheerleading team earned a third-place finish at the National Cheerleaders Association Collegiate Nationals. The team is already looking to build on this year’s successful season with a couple of clinics and tryouts scheduled for this summer. “In June, we will host a clinic for middle and high school students seeking to enhance their skills,” Olund said. (EFSC image)

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – The Eastern Florida State College cheerleading team earned a third-place finish at the National Cheerleaders Association Collegiate Nationals.

The team placed third in the Intermediate All-Girl Junior College category, finishing four points behind Riverside City College who had an overall judge’s score of 92.1713.

Iowa Central Community College placed second during collegiate nationals on April 6-7 at the Ocean Center Arena in Daytona Beach.

“The third-place finish is really historic for us. This is only our second year competing against other colleges and winning a trophy is a huge achievement,” Eastern Florida State College Cheerleading coach Ashley Olund said.

“To put this into context, one of the teams that we competed against has been in existence for 18 years, so we’ve come really far in a very short amount of time. This success can be largely attributed to the exceptional talent we’ve been able to attract.”

The cheerleading team is made up of students from 10 different states as well as all around the state of Florida.

“We were fortunate to have a group of cheerleaders who came in determined to win! Placing fifth last year was a great first effort and this year’s team was committed to surpassing that achievement. Their determination was palpable at every practice and it was clearly reflected in their performance,” said Olund who is also an associate professor at Eastern Florida State College.

“Our division is really unique as Junior Colleges only retain cheerleaders for a maximum of two years. So, we essentially get a new team every year.”

The cheerleading squad was introduced in 2018 at Eastern Florida State College and has grown leaps and bounds over the past couple of seasons.

This year’s team consists of captains Chelsi Balint and Cheyenne True, Alexandra Hays, Victoria Kaplan, Melanie Novas, Lindsay Didion, Brooke Beecher, Chloe Winterroth, Courtney Halter, Gabi Caligiuri, Isis Snowden, Jenna Lowe, Jordan Giuliani, Nicole Vitaliano, Saniah Smith, Shelleen Tassinari, Sierra Chatwood, Violet Dobbs, and Sean Noble.

“We were in a tough division, but we were able to pull through and bring home some hardware for EFSC,” Eastern Florida State College cheer captain Cheyenne True said.

The team is already looking to build on this year’s successful season with a couple of clinics and tryouts scheduled for this summer.
“In June, we will host a clinic for middle and high school students seeking to enhance their skills,” Olund said.

“We have a recruitment clinic for current and incoming EFSC students in July and then tryouts will officially take place on Saturday, August 12th before the Fall semester begins. We anticipate a productive summer and look forward to the continued growth and success of our team.”