Cheerleaders head to national competition

By Cathy McLaren
Staff Writer

After spending a whirlwind month of March cheering on the men's basketball team in the NIT and the women's basketball team in the NCAA championship, the Purdue cheerleaders are heading to Daytona Beach, Fla., to compete themselves.

Twenty members of Purdue's cheerleading squad, as well as the dance team, will be among 25 Division IA schools competing at the NCAA national competition Thursday and Friday.

"We feel we have a really competitive routine," said cheerleader Liz Bawcum. "We're expecting to place well."

The team has been preparing for nationals since February, when it first learned pieces of a routine put together by Coach Al Enlow.

"I kind of have a skeleton of the routine and then we start just literally pounding it out," Enlow said.

Purdue is the only school in its nationals division that regularly has a successful basketball team in a post-season tournament, said Enlow. As a result, the squad attempts to have its routine finished before the basketball tournaments begin.

Though NCAA rules prohibit more than 20 athletes on the mat during national competition, almost everyone on the Purdue team has a chance to go to nationals at least once, said Enlow.

"They're selected based on skill, seniority — there's a number of factors that go into that," Enlow said. "What we try to do is give everybody a nationals experience at least once."

This is the first time Bawcum, a sophomore, will be competing in nationals. "It will be neat to have this experience for the first time, just to see what it's like out on the mat," she said.

The Boilers depart for Daytona today, with preliminary competition beginning Thursday. The top 10 teams will advance to the finals on Friday, where they will perform their complex tumbling, stunting and cheering routines. Both days' scores are then combined to determine a national champion.

"This year we have a unique style with a lot of flying," said Bawcum. "We have a different flair than other years. The routine is more entertaining with girls flying over the tops of pyramids and things like that."

Enlow hopes the difficulty and flashy style of the Boilermakers' routine will earn them a high score from the judges. The top five finishers' routines will be televised on CBS at the end of April or beginning of May.

"Last year we were three-hundredths of a point behind second place, and after preliminaries, we were three-hundredths of a point behind first place," said Enlow. "This year we're hoping to be in that top spot."

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Celebration to honor Boiler's season

Boiler softball to face Notre Dame

Team prepares for nationals in Los Angeles

Cheerleaders head to national competition

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