Nansemond River High School’s move up to the Virginia High School League’s Group 5A classification this year may have elevated the challenge for the school’s cheerleading squad, but the team has proven equal to the task so far in the postseason.

After winning Ironclad Conference tournament championships the past two years, Nansemond River’s cheerleading team transitioned to Conference 10 this year and won its tournament championship on Saturday at Menchville High School to make it three conference titles in a row.

“I’m really proud of them, and they’ve done a lot of hard work,” NR coach Amanda Lyons said of her cheerleaders. “And I’m just excited to see what they do in the next few weeks.”

This Saturday, they compete in the Region 5A South tournament, where the top four teams will advance to states.

In the Conference 10 tourney, Nansemond River faced teams from Bethel High School, Menchville High School, Hampton High School and Warwick High School.

There was only one round of competition as each team performed two-and-a-half- to three-minute routines. Nansemond River’s routine featured tumbling, stunts, dance and jumps.

Competing in Group 4A last year, Nansemond River finished as the state runner-up. Knowing that 5A schools would be larger and have more talent with which to form better teams, Lyons made some changes to her team’s routine this year.

“Our stunting skills, we’ve added difficulty to them,” she said. “We’ve tried to hit the highest part of the rubric with our stunting skills so we can get the highest score.”

It worked on Saturday as Nansemond River produced a score of 249, slightly ahead of Bethel, which finished with a score of 244. Warwick took third with a score of 206.5, rounding out the trio of regional qualifiers from Conference 10.

One example of the greater difficulty level that the Warrior cheerleaders embraced this year is revealed in a flyer’s performance. This year, a Nansemond River flyer can be seen spinning around one and a half times to get into the team’s stunts.

As for how her team was able to win another conference title, Lyons said, “They have a lot of dedication and heart and they put in a lot of hard work every night at practice. They don’t give up.”

The squad graduated seven cheerleaders last school year, but it features seven seniors again this year, whom she credited with helping drive the team to the success it has achieved.

Those seniors include Ryan Day, Taylor Fontenot, Meghan Duffy, Courtney Moreno, Desiree Hairston, Leilani Lawhorn and Lauren Maddrey.

Day, Duffy, Fontenot and Moreno have been named all-conference cheerleaders.

Reacting to his team’s third straight conference title, Day, a four-year varsity cheerleader, said, “We worked really, really hard for it, so I had a feeling that we were going to win first, but it’s just awesome.”

He noted the reason why is because when he was a freshman, winning first place seemed unachievable, like something out of a dream, and now it has become a routine.

The regional tournament takes place on Saturday at Norview High School.