RARITAN TWP. - A New Jersey high school's varsity and junior varsity cheerleaders have both won national titles.

Hunterdon Central Regional High School's varsity and junior varsity teams took first place for large high schools at the National High School Cheerleading Championships held on Saturday and Sunday. It was the varsity program's third national title. For junior varsity, it was redemption after coming in second in 2016.

A total of 14,000 cheerleaders from 700 teams took part in the competition held at ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando on Saturday and Sunday. Hunterdon Central's teams will be part of a broadcast on ESPN2 scheduled for 10 a.m. on March 11, 11 a.m. on April 2 and 7 a.m. April 8. Segments of each performance will also be available on VarsityTV.

"Winning nationals means a lot to me and the program," said Coach Lauren Del Rosso. "The girls worked extremely hard to be as competitive as they could be in any given challenge that faced them.

"Our program is close knit, to begin with, but I think both teams winning really brought our program to another level. Everyone was even more proud of one another after the experience they shared together."

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Both teams competed in the division for high schools with over 1,600 students, with the varsity team facing 38 others while the junior varsity team competed against 17 others.

"Winning as a senior was so great," said Heather Hadam. "We get to end our cheer career on the highest note possible. We will always be able to look back on it, remember that amazing moment, finally accomplishing what we worked for all year."

The varsity team took first in the preliminary rounds, advancing directly to the finals on Sunday.

"Good vibes is the first thing that comes to mind," senior Tara Dolan said. "Everyone was just so positive and calm. We were also pumped up and anxious and ready to run out of the castle and leave it all on the mat, show everyone what HC Cheer is made of."

Dolan described the junior varsity win on Saturday as "motivating, but the team was mostly motivated by all of the struggles it had overcome this season."

The team had faced a number of injuries that required a continuous reworking of the routine.

"It was a bit of a surprise when we heard our name called as National Champions," Del Rosso, who is assisted by junior varsity coach Bree and Jami, said. "I immediately was overwhelmed with emotions. We had a fall in our routine, which right off the bat, gave us a two-point deduction. The team and myself were ready to accept any place awarded with pride.

"But, once they started to get closer to the top five, and our name still hadn't been called, we started to get more and more nervous and more and more excited."

In addition to a banner marking their titles, the members also get white satin jackets.

The varsity cheerleaders faced 19 teams during Saturday's preliminaries. By placing first in the preliminaries, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals. The 38 teams were split into two groups, competing over three rounds, including preliminaries, semi-finals and finals.

The junior varsity team competed faced eight teams in the finals.

Tryouts for the cheerleading teams are held at the end of the school year, with selections announced at the end of May. Members of the team attend strength and conditioning training twice each week, and many also take private lessons in specialized gymnastics and tumbling.

The season kicks off with practices in early August, summer camp, football games, charity work, team tumbling lessons, all leading to the first competition mid-October.

After the teams make their ways through the circuit of local, conference and regional competitions, if they place first of second at the UCA Northeast Championships they earn a spot in the nationals. At the regional competition, held Nov. 13, junior varsity took first and varsity came in second.

Members of the dance team at Academy of the Holy Angels in Demarest also took first in the small varsity hip hop division during the national dance team competition held in Orlando earlier in February.

Raymond L. Crisci, III, a senior at Hunterdon Central Regional High School, contributed to this report.

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