Sarah Gravely couldn't speak much louder than a whisper Monday.

        She couldn't be happier. Sarah is a member of the Northern Kentucky Raiders junior recreational cheerleading team that came home Monday after winning its division at the Americheer National Championships last weekend in Orlando, Fla.

        “It feels great to know we're first in the nation,” said Sarah, 14, of Edgewood, in a telephone interview from the Orlando airport.

        One national title is nice, but Northern Kentucky teams picked up four altogether. The Raiders youth recreational and Kentucky Elite North's coed and small senior teams were equally golden.

        “It's unbelievable, a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” said Kim Steffen, who directs all of the teams. “I was hoping we'd get one. Four is amazing.”

        What's more, the Kentucky Elite North small senior team is Grand Champion of the entire competition because its score of 455.5 out of a possible 500 was the best of any division.

        “I have never been in the finals,” said Jennifer Ogletree, 17, a senior at Fairfield High School and a member of the grand champion team. “To be in the finals and be the national grand champions, it's a dream come true.”

        The Raiders, part of a Northern Kentucky Youth Football League organization based in Taylor Mill and Edgewood, and Kentucky Elite North, were two of some 250 groups in Florida.

        A total of 58 Raiders were in Florida, 29 in the youth division for fourth- and fifth-graders and 29 in the junior division for grades 7-8. There were a combined 49 members on the two Kentucky Elite North squads.

        The Raiders spent about 150 hours over five months learning routines they have only 2 1/2 minutes to perform perfectly, routines full of tumbles, dances and stunts that include balancing a girl standing on two sets of hands.

        And there are mental challenges.

        Ms. Steffen said tryouts each April are just as grueling as any football team's practice.

        “The requirements basically are to have cheering motions and dance ability,” Ms. Steffen said. “We always tell (team members) they have to "sell' the routine. They are athletes and performers.”

        And some are boys.

        Kentucky Elite North senior coed member Mike Liberman, 15, a freshman at Scott High, is also part of Scott's football team. He said both disciplines are difficult.

        “Football, all you have to do is run people over,” Mike said. “In cheerleading, you have to memorize the whole routine. I've been knocked out more times in cheerleading than football.”

        This weekend's title was the Raiders junior team's second in three years. Monday, McKenzi Dailey, a 13-year-old member of the junior team from Edgewood, and her teammates sported the red championship jackets they won — and looked forward to being fitted for championship rings.

        And they proved one more thing — cheerleaders are athletes.

        Said McKenzi: “Cheerleaders are not just flirts in skirts.”

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