Poms squad achieves goal

Hard work and perseverance paid off in the end for the IU poms squad and the all-female crimson cheer squad. After learning Nov. 24 that the pom squad\'s funding for their trip to the 2002 College Nationals had been canceled, the entire IU cheer and dance program chipped in to help pay for the trip.\n\"The whole program had to go out and get money and get donations and sponsors," said senior and crimson squad captain Karmen McCracken.\nPom squad co-captain and senior Kathryn Sims said the size of the program base helped the pom squad raise the $17,000 they needed to fund the trip themselves.\n"All of the cheer alumni knew what the problem was, so we went to them (for support)," Sims said. "The large base of our program really helped also. We also contacted local businesses and appealed to them for support, but some of it we still had to foot ourselves."\nTo qualify for the national championships the pom squad and crimson squad had to submit videos of their routines to be judged by the Universal Cheerleaders Association. After the video judging, the pom squad had placed eleventh in the Division IA Dance competition while the crimson squad was in fourth place in the All Girl Division I for the cheer competition.\nLearning of the budget cut after they had already qualified for nationals pushed the team even more to make sure they were able to showcase their abilities at the competition.\n"The adversity made us want to prove that we do deserve support from the university," Sims said. "We knew that this was our year. We knew how good we were. We wanted to show the world I guess that Indiana dance was very good and we wanted to let everybody else know."\nAfter raising the money, the pom and crimson squads were able to make the trip to Orlando, Fla., to compete in the 2002 College Nationals at Disney World. In the finals, the pom squad finished second at the Division IA Dance level and the crimson squad finished fourth in the All Girl Division I cheer competition. \nThe pom squad was only beaten by Orange Coast College of California and finished ahead of other Big Ten squads from Michigan State and Minnesota who took home third and fourth. Morehead State was the national champion in the crimson's competition, followed by Memphis and Southwest Texas State.\nSims said it was important for the pom squad to accomplish its goals of a top-five finish and to be ahead of all the other Big Ten competitors. Senior co-captain and pom squad member Erin Gross also said it was nice for the squad to perform well to represent the university.\n"This year we really wanted to prove ourselves that it is worth the university's time and money to send us (to Nationals)," Gross said. "It's nice to come back and let them know that we are on top and that we should be there. The Big Ten has a lot of talent in their dance teams and it was good to be there and to represent IU. You want to be proud to have Indiana on your uniform, it's a good feeling and it is good for the university as well."\nMcCracken was pleased to be able to compete in the crimson squad's first national competition.\n"We put so much time and effort into the raising of the money and practices that it made it real important for us to perform well," McCracken said. "When I got the chance to come to IU and cheer it was like a little girl's dream come true. I never thought I would be able to compete in nationals, so that was an awesome experience."\nThe competitions will be televised on ESPN and ESPN2 during the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament in mid-March. Sims thinks the recognition would be good for the program and for IU.\n"ESPN airs these competitions many times, and not just locally, but nationally," Sims said. "The exposure will be good for us as athletes and dancers, but also for IU, not just the dance team"