Jay County competes in Florida Saturday

Eight hundred forty-five miles. Two and a half minutes.

Jay County High School’s cheerleaders made the flight to Orlando, Florida, this morning and on Saturday will get their 150 seconds on the mat at ESPN Wide World of Sports Fieldhouse as they compete at the Universal Cheerleaders Association National High School Cheerleading Championship for the first time in 28 years.

“I’ve been really nervous, but we’ve definitely worked really hard,” said junior Nina McShane. “There’s definitely a lot more teams, a lot bigger competition. It’s definitely going to be a challenge for us.”

The Patriots — they are one of 11 Indiana squads competing at nationals on a list that also includes Cathedral, Fishers, Hamilton Southeastern and Pendleton Heights — will take the mat about 4:15 Saturday afternoon in the preliminary round of the medium varsity Division II competition that will be the culmination of more than a year of preparation.

While the JCHS squad began practicing in earnest in August for their attempt to qualify for nationals for the first time in more than a quarter century, the work toward this weekend began well before that.

Coach Abby Champ and her staff knew they had a strong crop of freshmen coming this year and that earning a trip to Florida might be a real possibility. So in November 2015, she started taking her varsity cheerleaders and eighth graders to Westfield a few times a month to practice tumbling skills. Meanwhile, a smaller group was working with Indianapolis Colts’ Blue Stampede cheerleader Kaleb Newell, who is also a UCA instructor, on partner stunts.

The Patriots spent the summer preparing for their traditional Indiana State Fair competition, which ended up being rained out, before turning their attention to UCA’s Hoosier Championship, which serves as a national qualifier.

They scored 70.35 points in that event Nov. 20 at Pendleton Heights, surpassing the national-qualifying threshold of 70.

Since then, it’s been all about Orlando.

“It’s a whole new experience,” said sophomore Randi Ferguson. “I’ve been around these girls a lot more than I expected to be. … It’s been a lot of work.”

Over the last two and a half months, Jay County has practiced two to four times a week in two- to three-and-a-half-hour sessions. That has been in addition to cheering at Patriot boys and girls basketball games.

All of that time has produced a nationals routine that in some ways bears little resemblance to what the Patriots did at the Hoosier Championship.

They’ve made changes to virtually every section of their routine, including rotating positions for three of their four tops in their final pyramid. Dara Grove, now in the center, jumps and spins into a liberty before doing a front flip to the mat followed by a back flip into the air again. Meanwhile, Breea Liette and Renee Omstead are both doing full twists into an elevator.

The tumbling has changed as well, both in terms of skills and formations. And the Patriots have worked on some of the little things — sign work, dance, precision — that can help add what could be critical tenths of a point to their score.

“It’s been really fun,” said Alexus Liette, the lone senior on the squad, complimenting the dedication her teammates have shown. “It’s been a lot different than any other competition we’ve prepared for because the skills are a lot harder, the stunting is a lot harder, but we’ve also improved a lot. That makes it easier to want to work together.

“We’ve worked a lot harder. Our goal was nationals, but once we actually made it, then we realized we really needed to start working harder to get the skills we wanted to have in our nationals routine.”

The 34 squads in the medium varsity Division II competition will be split into two groups for Saturday afternoon’s preliminaries. The top-scoring squad from each will advance directory to the finals. Another nine from each group will move on to the semifinals, which will begin immediately following the preliminaries.

The best nine squads from the semifinals will move on to the finals, which are set for 3 p.m. Sunday.

The Patriots, along with a contingent of 18 supporters, spent Thursday night in Indianapolis before catching a 7:10 a.m. flight today to Orlando. They had orientation and coaches meetings upon arrival and then hit the outdoor field for practice this afternoon. They plan to visit Epcot Center for fireworks tonight.

Saturday will be entirely focused on the competition, with Jay County hoping to advance through to the finals despite being new to nationals. If that doesn’t happen, the squad will still be in the Fieldhouse on Sunday to take in the finals atmosphere.

The emphasis turns to the attractions Monday, with plans to visit Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and the Magic Kingdom before flying back Tuesday.

While the prospect of a fun February extended weekend in Florida is enticing, but during practice last week the Patriots were locked in on their goal of making the finals.

“We’ve worked hard for this,” said Ferguson, “and I’m ready to do it.”

They will find out Saturday if they can make that dream come true. Either way, coach Abby Champ is already proud.

“I think as far as we’ve come in the last four months, as the coach, I’m going to be excited with anything we put out there,” she said. “Because we’ve hit this routine. We know they can do everything in it. We’re not putting things out there that have never hit and hoping they’ll hit. …

“As a coach, I just want them to go down and have fun and I want them to walk away … and say, ‘That was an amazing experience.’”