Manatee High cheerleaders place ninth in nation at competition

BRADENTON -- The Manatee High School varsity cheerleaders placed ninth in a national competition in Orlando over the weekend and the junior varsity squad finished fifth.

The national wins come after the varsity squad took its fourth consecutive state championship earlier this year.

"As a coach, I couldn't be more proud of their hard work," head coach Ashley Choate said. "They set a goal at the beginning of the year to win states and make it to finals at nationals and they met that."

The varsity team made it through the semi-final round of competition on Saturday. They were the only Florida team to make it to the

final round, where they finished in ninth place, Choate said. A total of 38 teams competed at the varsity level.

The junior varsity team beat out 18 others to be named fifth in the nation at the competition, Choate said.

Choate said the competition was more difficult because half of the team was sick.

"It was a grueling task of over 13 hours of semifinal and prelims, and a 6:30 a.m. wake up time for finals the next day. Half the team is sick and had to work through the pain," she said.

Meghin Delaney, education reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7081. Follow her on Twitter @MeghinDelaney.

This story was originally published February 8, 2016 at 11:07 PM with the headline "Manatee High cheerleaders place ninth in nation at competition ."