Lowcountry cheerleading squad takes 3rd at national meet

Allstar Panthers Sapphire, one of two cheerleading squads from the Ridgeland club to compete at last weekend’s D2 Summit National Small Program Championship, claimed a share of third place during Sunday’s finals in Florida.

The 30-girl team, drawing girls from across Beaufort and Jasper counties, placed second in Saturday’s Level 2 Large Senior preliminary round. Sunday’s performance at the Tampa Convention Center didn’t quite match the day before, leaving them behind squads from Ohio and Rhode Island.

The Neon squad, competing in the Level 3 Small Senior division, did not advance to the final eight from Saturday’s preliminaries. Nearly 500 teams in all from across the nation competed in various divisions.

This story was originally published May 2, 2016 at 8:02 PM with the headline "Lowcountry cheerleading squad takes 3rd at national meet."