After becoming national champions—twice—the BYU Cougarettes are at it again, snagging a second-place finish with their hip hop routine at the 2019 International Cheer Union World Cheerleading Championships. This makes a historic first for the team, marking the first time the all-girls team has ever competed at an international level—and they showed up to deliver.
View this post on Instagram US NATIONAL HIP HOP TEAM🇺🇸 Honored to have represented the USA this past week at ICU Worlds! 🥈Proud Silver Medalists in a powerful Hip Hop Division! A post shared by BYU Cougarettes 💙 (@byucougarettes) on Apr 28, 2019 at 5:42pm PDT
But the placement didn't come without the Cougarettes putting up a good fight to move up in the rankings. “We actually placed bronze in prelims because the Philippines had beat us,” Nicole Thorley told the Daily Universe. “We decided that we weren’t okay with that, so we practiced our guts off that night, and we showed up. We were so happy that we improved.”
And the hard work paid off as the Cougarettes snagged second, with Japan taking first.
“I could not be more proud of how the team performed and how they represented the United States as well as BYU,” Cougarettes head coach Jodi Maxfield said.
The Cougarettes have now won a mind-blowing 19 national championships since 1997 as well as a silver at a world competition. This year, they took home two national champion awards, one in hip hop and one in jazz, at the 2019 NDA Collegiate Cheer and Dance Championships in Daytona Beach, Flordia. The BYU Cougarettes posted on Facebook, "This weekend was the stuff dreams are made of. DOUBLE NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!!"
View this post on Instagram Honored and grateful to be the 2019 NDA D1A Jazz and Hip Hop national champs!!💙 #ONEbefore2 @brighamyounguniversity A post shared by BYU Cougarettes 💙 (@byucougarettes) on Apr 6, 2019 at 2:05pm PDT
Their near-perfect jazz routine received a score of 99.00, the highest team score for a jazz routine in BYU history, which put them ahead of Texas Tech (97.60) and South Carolina-Columbia (95.37).
Check out their winning 2019 NDA jazz routine below:
The Cougarettes also claimed their sixth national title in hip hop with a 97.23, with Louisville (96.32) and Florida International (95.51) taking second and third.
Check out their winning 2019 NDA hip hop routine below:
"We fought hard on stage for both titles with a lot of commitment, unity, and love. I'm so proud of all the hard work we put in this year to achieve the goal of winning two national titles," Maxfield said.