ORLANDO - Less than a year removed from winning two national titles at last spring's UCA National Championship, the Northwest cheer squad is making more room in the trophy case after earning the Open Small Co-Ed national championship over the weekend.

Northwest placed first in the semifinals with a raw score of 94.3, joining six other squads in advancing to the final round. Despite a raw score of 94.9 in the finals and three deductions, the Rangers once again placed atop the standings with a final event score of 91.9, beating out Drury University, Wilmington University, Coastal Alabama Community College, University of Southern Indiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.

For third-year cheer coach Brandon Casey, this marks his third national title in as many years. Additionally, Northwest also competed in the Open Co-Ed Game Day competition, placing second in the semifinals and competing against a mix of Division I and small college programs. The Rangers advanced to the finals of that division and came away with a fourth-place finish and 94.43 points.

"It's such a hard task to win at UCA College Nationals, but to repeat as back-to-back national champions is even more difficult", Casey said afterwards. "It was a challenge for us to only have nine returners from last year and to go up against universities that have four-year students. We didn't let that be an excuse and we came out, performed a very difficult routine that put us on top of 12 other teams. We could not have done it without the support of our administration and we are beyond proud of our team's hard work."

For more information about the Northwest Rangers cheer program, contact Casey at bcasey@northwestms.edu.