In news of people making Black history in the present day, major respect must be shown to the Savannah State University cheerleading squad. The team, which features 12 women and one man, bested the competition at the CheerSport Nationals this past weekend in Atlanta. They claimed first place and the national championship for their classification after impressing the judges. Savannah State University has become the first HBCU to win such an honor at nationals. The team managed to make history in their first appearance at CheerSport Nationals since 2013.
One of our @ssucurlyincollege chapter members ✨@mallorishea ✨is on the winning cheerleading team at #SavannahState – they just broke a record as the first HBCU to win #CheerSport the nations largest cheerleading competition. Congrats ladies!
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“We are very excited, ecstatic, just a feeling that you can’t explain,” said Morgan Moore, who is a senior cheerleader on the team, to Georgia’s ABC affiliate, WJCL. “It’s indescribable, it’s just a great feeling to know that we’ve made history at our school.”
Dathan Gooden, a fellow senior cheerleader on the squad and the lone male, agreed.
“We’re all very proud,” he said. “We wanted to bring this home because no one ever really saw us accomplish anything like that before or really know what we’re about, so we just wanted to bring it home.”
??Congratulations to our SSU cheerleaders for making history over this past weekend!!?? Not only winning the first place trophy BUT also being the first HBCU to win Cheersport!✊ Extremely proud Tiger!?? #SavannahState #SSU #SSUCheer #Cheersport #NationalChamps #BreakingBounderies #MakingHistory #TigerPride #Respect
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The team did just that. Even actress Gabrielle Union had to shout out the team for their history-making win. Of course, Union starred as Isis in 2000’s Bring It On. She played the leader of the Clover cheerleading squad from inner-city Los Angeles who were having their routines stolen by a championship-winning team in the area. Of course, in that fictional story, it was also the little team that could that took home the championship at nationals.
Congratulations are in order to the Tigers on their success. As Coach Timothy Grant put it to the Savannah Morning News, not only is their win a major feat for the squad, but it’s also a win for the school and community of Savannah as a whole.
“I did not know this was going to be that big to the community,” he said. “To have so many people excited about it is rewarding.”
