Lady Dolphin cheerleaders help Flip Factory win Cheerleading Worlds

Submitted Photo Hey, I know you... Alexa Booth and her Flip Factory teammates ran into fellow Lady Dolphin cheerleader Kari Stephenson while at Worlds. Stephenson competed with a squad out of Miami.

The Flip Factory Junior Level 5 All-Star Cheer Squad landed every stunt and executed every trick during its final-round performance Sunday at the U.S. All-Star Federation Cheerleading Worlds at Walt Disney World.

The only stumbles came during the awards ceremony, when the squad found out it won the competition.

"We thought we got second," squad member Jordan Hayes of Cantonment said. "And when they didn't call us for second, we started screaming and hugging. ... We were just really excited we got a bid, and hadn't expected to win."

The Flip Factory squad goes into the USASF record books as the first winner of the International Junior Co-ed division. Flip Factory coaches say the Cheerleading Worlds are considered the Olympic Games of cheerleading, but the USASF did not offer the International Junior Co-ed division before this year.

It is a very big accomplishment," coach Korey Jernigan said. "Flip Factory is the first in the entire world to win the division, so that says we are the best co-ed team in the world."

Submitted Photo USA, A-OK Alexa Booth (left) and Margaret Pagonis are all smiles at the Cheerleading Worlds

The Flip Factory squad was made up of 32 youths, most between ages 11-14, from the Pensacola Bay Area. The team started working together last spring with a goal of qualifying for the worlds competition. The squad found out it was going to Disney World when it won a competition in New Orleans on March 18.