National Cheerleading Association championship trophy

One of the most prestigious cheerleading competitions is the National Cheerleading Association’s College Nationals, with hundreds of colleges competing in 15 divisions by school size. For the last 20 years, one Texas squad has dominated the NCA College Nationals — Navarro College in Corsicana.

Cheerleading is more than pompons and leading chants on the sidelines. It is a competitive sport more similar to gymnastics than pep squads. Competitive, collegiate-level cheerleading today centers on complex, two-and-half-minute routines that demand dangerous and difficult tumbling, tossing, pyramids, and stunts from its highly skilled athletes.

When Monica Aldama became Navarro College’s cheerleading coach in 1994, she began transforming the school’s program into one of the biggest names in collegiate cheerleading. She created new routines around a single goal — maxing out points in every scoresheet category. Six years later, Navarro won their first of 13 NCA division championships. The squad also has five NCA Grand National titles, awarded to the college with the highest score across divisions at the Nationals.