The Misericordia University cheer team will compete at the 2026 UCA college cheer nationals at ESPN Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando, Florida January 16-18.
 
The team will compete in the Open All Girl Game Day division semifinals Friday morning and will compete in the Open All Girl Performance division semifinals, Saturday.
 
In addition, the Cougars will perform their Gameday routine in the International Cheer Union World Cup against top teams from around the word, Sunday evening.
 
"National's prep is one of the hardest things that we do," said Keileen Trochez, a senior captain and four-year team member. "You challenge your body, your mentality and your team. Everyone wants the same outcome. You feel the energy bounce off one another and you push and push until that final note in the song hits."
 
The team has been preparing for this championship since July and each team member has dedicated most of their breaks to training.
 
"This experience is always tough because you are putting your body through a lot, but the outcome is always worth it in the end," said senior team captain Alaina Leisenring. "Having a team and a coaching staff that believes in you above anything else is what gets me through it all. Something I've been living by is 'choose your hard', yes sometimes practicing multiple times a day is hard but being unprepared is harder".
 
The Cougars routines at CUA nationals can be viewed on https://tv.varsity.com.

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