Staff reports

Competition will feature the cheer divisions of tumbling, non-tumbling, sideline cheer (no music) and dance divisions of pom, jazz, hip-hop and high kick for Classes A, B, C and D.

Competition for Classes A and B will begin at 8 a.m. with Papillion-La Vista South High School. The awards ceremony is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.

Competition for Classes C and D will begin at 2:15 p.m., with the awards ceremony scheduled for 6:40.

More than 1,200 students are expected to compete and perform in the event, which is being sponsored for the first time by the Nebraska Coaches Association and the Nebraska Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association.

A spokeswoman said several schools that did not get registered in time for the competition still plan to send teams to watch the contest between the various squads.

While this is Nebraska's first competition under the two state organizations, cheerleading and dance competitions have been held in other states for years, with some of those contests drawing between 8,000 and 11,000 spectators.

Steve Johnsen, director of the Nebraska Coaches Association, said the Heartland Events Center should provide a good venue for the state championships.

"The site selection committee felt the Heartland Events Center offered the best opportunity to create a 'wow' factor for participants and fans of this event," Johnsen said in a prepared statement released at the time Grand Island was chosen as the host city.

The event is being coordinated with the Universal Cheerleaders Association and the Universal Dance Association, based in Memphis, Tenn.

Those organizations sponsor the national championships, which are held annually at Disney World in Orlando, Fla., and televised by ESPN. The same event and support staff from the UCA and UDA will help administer the Nebraska championships.

Teams from a number of area schools are among those scheduled to compete.

Grand Island Senior High, Grand Island Northwest, Kearney, Hastings and Adams Central will compete in the morning and early afternoon.

Grand Island is scheduled to perform in the non-tumbling competition at 11:48 a.m., and Grand Island Senior High's pom team is scheduled to compete at 1:01 p.m.

Northwest High School is scheduled to perform in the pom competition at 11:22 a.m.

However, the Web site for the Nebraska State Championships advises people who want to watch the competition that the schedule "is a tentative order of competition and is subject to change."

Area schools scheduled to perform in the various afternoon competitions include Ravenna, Doniphan-Trumbull, Hampton, Centura, Ord and Kenesaw.

Area schools scheduled to perform in the pom competition include Hampton, Wood River and Centura.

Times for all competitions by individual school can be found online at http://ncacoach.org/nca/. Once again, performance times on the Web site are all listed as tentative and subject to change.

Admission will cost $7 for adults and $5 for students for the whole day of competition.