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Claiborne County was well represented at last week’s Universal Cheerleaders Association (UCA) National High School Championships at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando. Both the Cumberland Gap and Claiborne competitive teams advanced to the finals in their divisions.

Cumberland Gap High School earned a fifth place overall finish in the Small Varsity Non Tumbling Division II Game Day category. Those cheerleaders were recognized during Friday’s basketball game.

Team members include Lacey Gulley, Bella Gidens, Lena Martin, Alyssa Smith, Grayson Bryant, Carmen Lee, Ashlyn Cornett, Adelyn Parise, Addison Muse, Braelynn Marsee, Reagan Miles, Payton Brunsma, Chloe Sharp, Emma Fultz and Kaydence Bolinger. They are coached by Tabitha Miles.

Miles said it was an honor to place fifth in the nation.

“There were 73 teams in our division. We started the season out with ten girls, which is super small for Small Varsity Non Tumbling Gameday. We ended up getting five more, which is the max for that division,” she said. “These girls worked really hard. We practiced sometimes twice a day, sometimes three times a day, before going on. They just worked hard and I couldn’t have asked for anything better than what they put out.”

Senior captain Lacey Gulley said this whole season has been a blessing to work with a group of girls who have such a great work ethic.

“We put in the work day in and day out — like, the three days we were at Disney we had ten practices. It really paid off not going to the parks and making it a business trip,” Gulley said.  “I love my teammates.”

Fellow Cumberland Gap senior Bella Gidens said the experience at Disney was definitely different from last year.

“I walked in with lower confidence because we didn’t do so great last year. But this team is different, in my eyes we’re all like sisters and I love them all so much. We truly bonded over that week at Disney, I think more than we had all year,” she said. “Even though we didn’t come home with that white jacket (as national champions), we came home with memories that are going to last us forever. It was awesome to end my senior year with this group of kids.”

Grayson Bryant and Alyssa Smith said the most exciting part was after the finals as the top 20 teams were being called out to get their trophies.

“There were 22 of us sitting down there. So seeing all the other schools get called off and us being lower and lower was really exciting,” Bryant said.

“All of the teams that had beat us this year (in other competitions) and that we had been wanting to beat, we beat all of them in the finals,” Smith added.

Gidens said she was proud to see her team’s hard work pay off by placing fifth in the nation.

“I was extremely proud because I knew we had put in so much hard work,” she said.”I was proud of all of the girls. We worked so hard and it finally paid off.”