The Goshen Eagles cheerleading squad competed at the UCA Camp at Troy University over the weekend and left with numerous awards on both the varsity and junior varsity levels.

After a brief break at the beginning of the summer, the Eagles, led by coaches Angie Thomas and Shelia Ballard, went back to work in preparation for this event. The Eagles typically attend the camp at Auburn University, but this time around they wanted to stick close to home.

“We normally go to Auburn,” said cheer coach Angie Thomas. “But our seniors asked to go to Troy so they could be home and have more of the community come out and watch.”

The community in attendance were able to witness the Eagles bring home plenty of hardware. The varsity and junior varsity squads competed in the medium division. The varsity squad was named Game Day champions. They also took home first place in cheer and in the Rally Routine.

The Eagles were tasked with replacing four departing seniors off last year’s squad.

“Just about half our squad was new to varsity,” Thomas said. “That means we had to work extra hard to find a new way of making things click. The seniors, along with the juniors of the squad, really stepped up and led this squad to make it happen. I couldn’t be happier with how this squad has turned out.”

Like the varsity, the junior varsity squad had a lot of new faces, many of which have never cheered before.

“This group of girls has been fun to work with,” Thomas said. “They are so eager to try anything new. The girls were always wanting to move on to more.”

The junior varsity Eagles took home the Game Day championship and came in first place in Cheer. They also finished in third place in the Rally Routine.

“Not only did they win great awards at camp, but they were also prepared to learn so many of the new stunts that were taught to them at camp,” Thomas said. “Once the opportunities were opened to them, they just about wore Mrs. (Shelia) Ballard out wanting to try them all. Because of their preparation, they were successful.”

The Eagles also had individual success during the camp. All six of the varsity girls that tried out for All-American were selected. They were Aleyah Daniels, Anna Grace Thomas and Kate Warrick. Three of the junior varsity squad made it as well in Haleigh Qualls, Kaci Wilkes and Addison Hester.