RALEIGH– The 13th annual North Carolina High School Athletic Association state invitational cheerleading championships are scheduled for Saturday at the Raleigh Convention Center.

            A total of 145 teams have registered to compete in the event, featuring 2,549 cheerleaders.

            Competition will be held in a number of different categories, including tumble and non-tumble in different groups, but for the first time the competition will be classified to a degree.  The Division I competition will be for 3-A and 4-A squads while the Division II competition will be for 1-A and 2-A schools.  The doors open at 7:30 am and competition will begin shortly before nine o’clock Saturday morning.

            The Carolina Cup will also be awarded based on the scores achieved in the competition. Cheer Ltd., Inc., an NCHSAA corporate partner that assists with the invitational championship, established the Carolina Cup to recognize annually the top high school varsity cheerleading team in the state. The team that earns the highest cumulative score among varsity teams during the invitational championship earns the Cup.

          Ledford won the Cup last year and is one of only two schools to win the Carolina Cup twice, having won in 2010.  Raleigh Cardinal Gibbons is the only other school to win two Carolina Cups, earning the honor in 2007 and ‘12.

          Time Warner Cable SportsChannel is the presenting sponsor for the invitational championships. The Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance and the city of Raleigh are the primary host city sponsors for the event.