The Joliet Junior College cheer team took 4th place at NCA Collegiate Nationals in Daytona Beach, Florida, on April 8-11.
Head Coach Tiffany Scholle was pleased with her team’s results.
“(It was) a great accomplishment for this group,” Scholle said.
The team took 3rd at the 2025 championships.
“I was proud of how far we had come,” said JJC cheerleader Jahnece Hawthorne added her take on the result, saying, “The only thing going through my mind (during the competition) was, ‘I have to hit, I have to do this for my team, my coaches who are watching, and my family back home.’ I knew in that moment that I was going to give it everything I had, no matter what.”
Scholle praised the team’s determination.
“They never stopped working to improve,” Scholle said. “After feedback from Day 1, they worked to make some improvements, and they were able to increase their score by 3.5 points on Day 2.”
Hawthorne said she was emotional with her teammates after the competition.
“I was so excited for them and proud to share that moment together,” Hawthoren said. “After our performance, I felt an overwhelming rush of emotions. I cried so hard because it all hit me at once. I was incredibly proud of us for holding it together… it felt like we belonged there like we had been doing this our whole lives…More than anything, I was happy with our Day 2 performance because I walked off the mat with no regrets. No matter the outcome, I was proud of us.”
The team is starting recruitment and hosting tryouts for next season. They are looking to add athletes that will be enrolling in JJC for the fall. Scholle said their goal is to improve upon this finish next year as well as return to the national competition and place even higher.
