On May 5, Storm All-Stars competed at the U.S. Finals cheerleading competition in Virginia Beach. Both teams competed against teams from all over the East Coast.

The Junior team, which is made up of 15 girls from 8-14, placed first out of five teams and are now National Champions.Each girl on the Junior team received a medal and a U.S. Finals National Champion Jacket. This was the team's first competition outside Pennsylvania and its first National title competition.The youth team, which includes 11 girls from ages 6-11, placed fifth place our of five teams.To get to the U.S. Finals competition, the girls had to place first through third at a qualifying competition. On Feb. 4 they competed at the Keystone Classic competition in Lancaster and both teams placed first, which earned them bids to the national competition. Each competition has a set of judges that score the teams' performances.The girls perform a two-minute, 30-second routine to music that contains dance, stunts and tumbling. The teams are then given awards, depending on how they place.Each team is placed in a level based on their skills. The youth team competes as a level 1 team and the junior team competes as a level 2 team. As the levels get higher the girls can perform more difficult tumbling passes and harder stunts.The teams are coached by Marybeth Long, Megan Witt and Laura Huerst.Storm All-Star Cheering is based at the Tumble with Denise gym in Lehighton. It includes girls from all over the area including Northwestern, Palmerton, Lehighton, and Parkland.Practice starts in September and teams begin competitions throughout Pennsylvania starting in January.Visit

www.NacaCheering.webs.com for more information.