DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The St. Gregory's competitive cheer team shot up the leaderboard Friday at the NCA/NDA Collegiate Cheer Championship. The Cavaliers improved seven spots from Thursday's preliminary round to finish fourth overall at Daytona Beach's Band Shell venue.

St. Gregory's, an NAIA school, finished strong despite competing with mostly NCAA schools in the All-Girl Division III class. Twenty-one schools were represented.

"I can't express my excitement at the moment," said Cavalier head coach Mandy Thomson. "With all the things that we've been through this year, we still persevered. We were in an extremely difficult division, so fourth feels like first. I am so proud of this team."

The Cavs were awarded a score of 88.6 in the finals with 1.5 points in deductions. That was nearly a point better than Friday's preliminary round, which SGU finished in 11th place. Davenport University won the title with a score of 94.23.

St. Gregory's finish was the second time it has placed fourth at a national competition this season. The Cavs also came in fourth at the NAIA Competitive Cheer National Invitational.