April 5, 2002
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue cheerleading squad posted its best finish ever in the National Cheerleaders Association nationals competition on Friday in Daytona Beach, Fla.
The Boilermaker cheer squad, under first-year coach Sue Bayley, finished less than two-tenths of a point behind champion North Texas. Behind the Boilermakers in third place was nine-time nationals champion Louisville.
Purdue emerged from preliminaries on Thursday in fourth place, after a routine that Bayley termed nearly flawless. Of Friday's finals performance, she said the routine was better.
"When the kids came off the mat after they performed, it didn't matter how we finished because they knew they had absolutely hit it when they had to," said Bayley, a 1991 Purdue graduate and former Purdue cheerleader. "When you consider the lights and the pressure, they performed as perfectly as they could have."
The finals will be televised at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 27, on CBS.
In 2000, Purdue finished third in the finals and last year finished fifth.