Chattooga County’s Lauren Causey and Taylor Carroll, members of the 2017 National Championship Shorter Hawks Cheerleading team were presented with their National Championship Cheerleading rings at a reception. Both Hawks are scholarship students and were members of the 2012 Trion High School State Championship Cheerleading team.
Shorter University’s Competition Cheerleading team won the 2017 NCA (National Cheerleaders Association) National Championship in the Intermediate Small Coed Division back in April at a competition in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Sophomore Causey had this to say: “This has been the most meaningful cheerleading season of my career. As a team, we had to overcome so much this season. We got a new coach two weeks before camp; we had members quit & had new members added mid-season. But we set a goal at the beginning of the season, and we did everything to make sure we reached that goal as a team. It’s been a tough season, though, especially being a biology major and balancing school with 6am practices, 3 days a week. But it was definitely worth every second. It was really special for me to join the team as a freshman and win a national title. At Trion I was in Journalism, Spanish Club, Beta Club, Mu Alpha Theta, FCCLA, FBLA. I was an honor graduate and received an academic “T” all 4 years. I was a varsity competitive and football cheerleader all four years, while cheering Allstars at Hotshots. I won state my freshman year & was second runner up the next three years in a row. I was editor of the Bulldog Barker my senior year. I received a scholarship from Shorter- Alfred/Shorter Provost Scholarship.” Lauren is the daughter of Eric and Shelley Brown.
Junior Taylor Carroll is the daughter of Tony and Lynda Carroll and the sister of Gabbi. Taylor had this to say: “My major is nursing. I plan to go to graduate school and become a nurse practitioner and specialize in oncology. I’m closer to this team than any other team I’ve ever been on. I can genuinely say that we aren’t just a team, we’re a family. We all had the same goals from the start and we pushed each other to our limits because we knew that’s we had to do to reach our goal. This team has had to overcome so much adversity, and I think that’s why winning this national championship title is so special to us. Winning state twice in a row was huge, but this national title was my ultimate goal, and I couldn’t have picked a better group of people to win it with.”
