By Emily Chaffins -

MIAMI | Archdiocese of Miami high school cheerleading teams have outdone themselves this year, competing for and earning major titles in state and national competitions.

In February, Immaculata-La Salle’s Royal Lions won the Florida state championship in Extra Large Non-Tumbling Division Class 1A with a final score of 76.80, 3.5 points higher than second-place Carol City in Miami. They then went on to become national champions in Large Varsity Non-Tumbling Division II with a score of 79.30, nearly five points better than the second-place school.

St. Brendan High School’s Sabres placed second statewide in Large Varsity Class 1A with a final score of 84.00. Our Lady of Lourdes Academy’s Bobcats placed sixth in Medium Varsity Class 2A.

St. Brendan also made it to the finals of the national competition in Medium Varsity Division II and placed seventh in the finals. Lourdes just missed the cut. Archbishop Carroll High School also competed in the same division but did not make it to the semifinals.

The national championship took place in Orlando, Feb. 10-12, 2023, hosted by the Universal Cheerleaders Association.

Coral Buxeda, athletics marketing coordinator and head cheerleading coach at Immaculata-La Salle, has coached the team since 2017, the year they went competitive. Over the course of those six years, the team has won five championships.

“This year, we were the only team from South Florida to win a national championship. We’re one of the only teams in South Florida to win it twice,” said Buxeda.

Immaculata-La Salle were crowned state champions in both 2020 and 2021 and national champions in 2021.

This year’s journey to the championships was a story of bouncing back from disappointment.

Coach Buxeda said that last year, the team lost the state championship “because of a technicality.” This season, she motivated the team by teaching through “a race theme, ‘crossing the finish line.’…. I told them, ‘All we have to do is get to the end.’”

The victory did not come easy. They went from placing fourth in regionals to persevering to the national championship.

This year’s state championship win “felt so good,” Buxeda said, because it felt like the win the team should have gotten last year “and didn’t get.”

She had told last year’s graduating seniors that the team would dedicate a 2023 win to them. “This year we had a lot of support from alumni, from parents and families,” Buxeda said.

She added that her future goal for the team is “success,” explaining that although the goal is to win yearly championships, “success doesn’t mean winning – that’s not guaranteed.”