SENATOBIA – It was a stellar weekend for the Northwest Mississippi Community College cheer and dance teams, bringing home four national championships and finishing now lower than third in the nation in all of their events at the 2026 UCA/UDA College Nationals.

It is now the tenth total title in the Northwest cheer program history going back to 1999, with nine of those titles coming under current Head Coach Brandon Casey, and the third title for the dance program under Head Coach Patrice Christian.

"It's an incredible accomplishment for these athletes. Assistant Coach Rainy Bordelon and I have pushed them hard all season long and they have trusted the process and worked incredibly hard to get to this point. It's so rewarding for all their hard work in the classroom, in the weight room, and in the cheer gym that we spend the majority of our time in to see all that hard work bring such a successful weekend and bring back three national titles!"

The Rangers started by picking up a title on Saturday night when cheer came away with the national championship in the Open Co-Ed Gameday division, bringing home the title over Washburn University of Topeka and Iowa Western Community College with a score of 88.4667 which was nearly two points better than Washburn.

Cheer also finished second in the nation in the Open All-Girl Gameday division.

Saturday night's finals also featured the Northwest dancers competing in the Open Dance Gameday finals and the Rangers finished third in the nation, just behind Endicott College and Minnesota State University – Mankato. It was a very narrow margin with the top three all having over 92 points, but Endicott's 92.5333 was enough to get past the 92.5 of NWCC.

While not taking the top spot was tough, Christian said the team worked like always to put something that would represent who and what Northwest represents for the judges to see. 

"We are the only ones in gameday that do what we do and so even though it was only three-tenths of a point from winning we are super proud to put our best on the floor and represent Northwest," she said.

The success continued into Sunday where the Rangers had three more teams in the finals, and all three came away with national titles.

Cheer picked up wins in the Open Small Co-Ed Finals where they scored 81.65 points to just edge out Wallace State College for the championship and Open All-Girl where they finished with an 86.9 to take the title over Pearl River who took second with an 80.6.

Dance was also in a groove on Sunday afternoon and brought home the hardware in the Open Hip-Hop Division, scoring a 95 to outpace Stockton University's 90.8 to pick up their third straight title in the Open Hip Hop division.

"It feels amazing," Christian said. "These kids have worked extremely hard to make it happen and they have raised the bar so high that they are competing on a DI-A level as a two-year school which is crazy. I want to talk about them and how much work they have put in because they genuinely put in so much work, so much heart, so much grit into our program that the results are what they are."

The Rangers have won a national title in cheer all but one year going back to 2021 and Casey has now earned nine national titles in his time as the Northwest Head Cheer Coach.

Casey said it has been possible by building a program that cares not just about the current season, but the seasons to come and the seasons that have gone by.

"Nine titles in six years is an incredible achievement as a coach," Casey said. "It's more about the kids who have come and gone through this program. I think we are building something so different from a lot of other colleges. We are building a lifelong family that these kids will forever have. We had more alumni come back to watch a practice or come to the showcase to support us this year than we have ever had in the last six years and I think that say's a lot about the family we are!"

The Northwest dance team is not far behind in the success, picking up a national title every year going back to 2024, all of which have come from Christian's tutelage.

"These kids put in many, many hours and are great people," Christian added. "Our culture is one we are super proud of and they deserve the world."

Casey also said the support and culture begins all the way at the top of the college and that is critical for the success of the programs.

"The support by our college is something that not every school has. We are blessed with the best administration in the state if not the country. Their support is unmatched!"