Local Cheerleaders recently competed in the “Return To Atlantis” National Cheerleading Championships in Raleigh NC hosted by Varsity and came home national Champions.

Roanoke Valley residents Toni Darden, Jalen Pearson, and Mallaury Pageau all have a love for the sport of all-star cheerleading and all cheer at EC Cats in Greenville. They travel to Greenville twice a week for grueling 2 hr practices and spend countless amount of extra hours stretching, tumbling, and practicing all for a 2-minute cheer routine and they wouldn’t change a minute of it.

All 3 girls compete on the Senior All-star Level 3 Coed Cheerleading team “Fierce Cats” and after 2 days of competition against teams from all over Georgia, South Carolina, and NC they were victorious and finished 1st place overall. The team finished both days with zero deductions marking the 5th competition day with zero deductions.

Toni Darden and Jalen Pearson also compete on the EC Cats “Jags” All Star Cheerleading Senior Level 5 Restricted Coed team and this team also competed against gyms all over Georgia, SC, and NC and finished with a 1st place win and also a specialty award for “Best uniform”.

Toni and Jalen have worked hard over the years to gain the skills required to try out for and land a spot on a level 5 team having to throw a full on the tryout floor to even be considered a spot on the team. Their love and passion for the sport are a perfect fit for the EC Cats gym and their coaches could not be prouder of all of these athletes. www.eccats.com

Cheerleader Emily Clay, also from the Roanoke Valley also cheers at the EC Cats gym in Greenville on the “Lions” level 2 team. The Lions also competed at the Return to Atlantis 2 day all-star challenge national championships with a strong 4th place overall win. Emily works very hard and did an amazing job this weekend.

Pictured: Emily Clay daughter to Brandon and April Clay of Roanoke Rapids