Wittenberg cheerleaders pose with their trophies following the National Cheerleading Association Camp at the University of Michigan.

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - Wittenberg University's varsity cheerleading squad made quite a showing at the National Cheerleading Association's (NCA) camp at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor Aug. 5-7, capturing seven first-place ribbons against much larger collegiate institutions.

The Tigers placed first in the Fight Song and Spirit routine competitions, beating out several NCAA Division I institutions with enrollments several times the size of Wittenberg's, including the host University of Michigan. Wittenberg also received five other first-place ribbons in Home Cheer and Game Day evaluations, and in the process the squad earned a bid to the National College Cheerleading Championships in Daytona, Fla. in April 2004.

"This is such a big feat for us," said senior co-captain Whitney Lehman. "We've learned a lot of new things that are going to be a lot of fun for the home crowds to watch this season."

The Tiger cheerleading program is under the direction of coaches Kim Wooton and Lori Rahrle, both of whom came on board less than a year ago.

"The coaches have given us a chance to achieve our goals and have taken extra time to really evaluate what we need to do and have pushed us to limits we didn't think we had," said senior co-captain Nancy McLaughlin. "We owe a lot of our success to them."

Wittenberg's cheerleaders can be seen and heard on the sidelines of football, men's basketball and women's basketball games throughout each season. Their first appearance in 2003 is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 13, the first home football game of the season, versus Urbana University, which is also Community Night.