The Clark Atlanta University Cheerleaders started off the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Basketball Tournament week on a number one note, winning the 2019 SIAC All-Female Cheer Team championship Sunday in Birmingham, Ala.

The SIAC championship is the first for the Panthers cheerleading program and comes in the program's first competition since 2008.  The program won three HBCU national cheer titles in a row in the mid-1990s when current Head Coach Alane Hickman was a member of the team.

"Our program hasn't competed in about ten years now," Hickman said.  "So, it's really a big victory for the cheer program, as well as CAU and the athletic department."

The competition features teams in two divisions – co-ed and all-female.  Teams from conference schools get just under three minutes to execute a routine that is full of athleticism and precision that takes months to prepare for.  Teams are scored in areas such as tumbling and overall appeal.

"We did have a few slight mistakes that were reflected in the routine, but other than that, everything hit perfectly," she said.  "Our tumbling scored really high, as well as our overall appeal.  That was important to me because that showed we had a good flowing routine and a good cohesive routine.

"We had an Atlanta theme for our routine, in terms of the music that we used," Hickman said.  "We used a lot of Atlanta artists and a lot of Atlanta references to make sure we were representing home as much as we could."

The team is led by captains Aijana Dailey, Nyari Weatherly, and Kelsiuna Woodford.  The other members are Aiyanna Lovett, Alize Knight, Amina Lee, Brianna Nave, Emmani Jones, Je'Nautica Luster, Kelsie Roberts, Kyra Wilson, Lourdes Rodriguez, Lyniyah Potts, MaKayla Jackson, Micah Mathis, Monique Johnson, Nya Hughes, Ravyn Roberts, Taylor Ashford and Terricka Comer. Hickman is assisted by coach Alex Hickman.

"We did have a lot of alumni support as some of our alumni cheerleaders came to Birmingham to support the program, as well as a lot parental support, which is very helpful," Hickman said.  "And Athletic Director J Lin Dawson and Assistant Athletic Director Myra Blow, as well as cheer alumna LaTanya Merritt, have supported our program tremendously over the past couple of years."

Now the focus turns to SIAC Basketball Tournament play where the CAU's Lady Panthers and Panthers have their tourney openers on Tuesday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. CST and 9:15 p.m. CST.

"We turn about and try to get our men and women back to the championship game," she said.  "And then our focus is tryout season.  Tryouts will be posted on our web site right after spring break."