From the ground up: HPU students build competitive cheer team, take it to nationals

 There was no coach, no funding, and no real plan. Just two students and an idea. Two years later, that idea is wearing uniforms, traveling across the country and turning heads on the national stage.

Karleigh Denn and Zoe McCandless weren’t recruited to lead a college cheer program. They weren’t hired or handed a title. They were just two education majors at High Point University who missed the sport they’d grown up in—and decided to bring it back into their lives, on their own terms.

“I think we both knew we weren’t done with cheer,” Denn said. “We had this itch to compete again, to get back to what we do best.”

The pair began their HPU careers on the university’s game day cheer team but stepped away their sophomore year. It wasn’t the spirit they missed, but the sport. Competitive cheerleading, with its stunts, tumbling and tightly timed routines judged on precision and difficulty, had always been their thing. And if HPU didn’t offer a program, they’d create one.

What followed was more than a club or side project, but a full-blown student-led operation. Denn took on the role of head coach, balancing student teaching and coursework while running practices, choreographing routines, organizing fundraisers, ordering uniforms, and managing 25 college girls. McCandless became assistant coach, offering technical coaching and support.

Together, they formed a team of underclassmen, upperclassmen and graduate students with varying experience levels, but all committed to the same goal. 

“There were definitely moments where it felt impossible,” McCandless said. “But once we saw how good this group was this year, it clicked. We realized this was bigger than us.”

Grad student Jessica Peroni has been with the program since its earliest days. She said watching the growth of the team, as well as Denn and McCandless as leaders, was something special.

“Karleigh and Zoe took on a challenge most people wouldn’t even bother to,” Peroni said. “They built a program from scratch and led it to the most competitive stage in the country. That’s pretty wild.”

In its first official competition season, the team earned a coveted bid to NCA College Nationals in Daytona Beach, Fla., a competition that brings in powerhouse cheer programs with paid coaches, athletic department support and custom choreography. Just qualifying was a milestone.

But the team did more than just show up. After a shaky first day on the mat in the Ocean Arena, they regrouped and delivered a near-flawless performance on day two, nearly maxing out the scoring rubric and finishing in the top 25 nationally—an extraordinary result for a brand-new, student-led program.

“It was incredible to step out there and realize we really did that,” Peroni said. “We weren’t just a new team, but we were competitive.”

No, they didn’t take home a trophy. But they came back with something else: respect. Legitimacy. And a blueprint for future seasons.

“What we do is athletic, it’s technical and it takes real strategy,” McCandless said. “And now, we’ve shown we can hang with the best.”

With graduation around the corner, Denn and McCandless are stepping away, but not without leaving a strong foundation. Interest in the team has grown. New leaders are stepping up. And the path they carved through determination, passion and countless late-night planning sessions, has cleared the way for HPU Competitive Cheer to keep going for gold.

“We went there wanting a win,” Denn said. “But to know we built this team from the ground up and competed at Nationals in our first year, that’s a win in itself.”

What they achieved is rare. Most college cheer teams take years to build and rely on full-time coaches and university support. HPU’s team was built in racquetball courts, sustained by rides to practice and fueled by nothing but belief and hard work.

And that’s their true legacy: two college girls who didn’t wait for permission to do something great.

They just did it.