Ball State University Athletics
Cheerleaders Finish 13th in the Nation
January 22, 2008 | Cheerleaders
The Ball State University Coed Cheerleading Squad, under the direction of head coach Wendy Richards and assistant coaches Rhea Moulton, Ben Duchesne and David Holloway, placed 13th in the nation at the 2008 Universal Cheer Association National Championships last Sunday at Disney's Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Fla.
"The team did a great job to qualify for the national finals," head coach Wendy Richards says. "We did not have our best day, but we did well enough to qualify for the finals. In our national routine, it takes precision and practice. We were ready to go, but did not hit everything as well as we needed to, but a 13th place ranking is quite an accomplishment for our program."
Kentucky won the national championship for the fourth time in the last five year and the 12th time in the last 14 seasons. Ball State's All-Girl Squad placed seventh in the nation at last year's All-Girl Cheerleader competition.
Ball State was the only Mid-American Conference team to place in the nation's top 15. The Cardinals were one spot better than the University of Mississippi and two spots better than the 15th ranked Ohio State Buckeyes.
Following are the members of the coed team's national squad:
Steven Albritton (Carmel, Ind.)
Jacke Blackwell (Fishers, Ind.)
Andy Blanton (Connersville, Ind.)
Emily Carter (Muncie, Ind.)
Casey Gardner (Pendleton, Ind.)
Whitney Grove (Muncie, Ind.)
Haley Hendrix (Lebanon, Ind.)
Brittny Hobbs (Anderson, Ind.)
Ryan Lee (LaPorte, Ind.)
David Lewis (Muncie, Ind.)
Jeff Neff (Yorktown, Ind.)
Ross Riggin (Muncie, Ind.)
Ryan Sherwood (Argos, Ind.)
Jason Swearingen (Muncie, Ind.)
Jordan Towne (Yorktown, Ind.)
Courtney Watson (Franklin, Ind.)
Kaitlyn Wills (Osceola, Ind.)
Cameron Youngblood (Muncie, Ind.)
Molly Zeigler (Fort Wayne, Ind.)
