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For the third year in a row, Ragsdale High School's competition cheerleading squad has taken top honors in its division at the sixth annual North Carolina High School Athletic Association state invitational cheerleading championships.

But at the Nov. 8 competition at the Raleigh Convention Center, the squad really cleaned up, beating out 115 schools with the highest overall score and bringing home the Carolina Cup.

Cheer Ltd., Inc., one of the associations's corporate partners that assists with the invitational championship, established the Carolina Cup to recognize annually the top high school varsity cheerleading team in the state.

"It was their (cheerleader's) goal to go and have a three-peat this year, and they did. Our seniors have been here for each winning competition, so when we got the highest score, it was really their day," said Tricia Fodel, cheerleading coach.

But Whitney Wallace, a senior cheerleader, said they didn't expect to Carolina Cup.

"We went into this saying that we wanted to do our best and hit everything. When we actually won the Carolina Cup it was a feeling I can't describe," Wallace said.

"Last year, we didn't come close to getting the cup, so it's really exciting for us."

Ragsdale was named champion in the super varsity category, for teams of 20 or 21 members, above 10 other squads. The squads were judged on their tumbling, jumps, stunts basket tosses and cheers.

Fodel said the girls worked hard, but only practiced for the competition once a week because they were committed to supporting the school's football and basketball teams first.

"The squad gets to keep the cup for at least a year, and now we're working on cheers for basketball season," Fodel said.

Contact Adria Hairston at 883-4422, Ext. 244 or adria.hairston@news-record.com