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Two Albert Lea youth cheerleading teams through Champion Force Athletics punched their ticket to nationals this week after two successful seasons.

The nationals competition will be July 22 and 23 in Cleveland, Ohio.

“It’s super exciting,” said coach Chaise Brackey, who is in her second season of coaching. “The girls that I work with are absolutely amazing. It’s so fun to work with them, and I’m just so excited that they worked so hard and they nailed it.”

Of the four divisions in Albert Lea — D1, D2, D3 and D4 — the D3 and D4 teams will advance. The D3 team is for participants ages 9 and older, and the D4 team is a try-out only team with current participants ranging in ages from about 8 to 18, she said.

The announcement comes on the heels of the state tournament Dec. 14, in which the D3 team won first place and the D4 team placed second.

To qualify for nationals, officials add together the teams’ scores from the fall and spring seasons, and the best teams advance. In the spring season, the D3 team placed fourth, while the D4 team placed first, she said. Seasons are 14 to 16 weeks, and the teams practice once a week leading up to the state competition.

Brackey said out of all of the Minnesota teams, about 10 Division 3 teams and six or seven D4 teams received bids for nationals. Other southern Minnesota teams will also be represented, including teams from Waseca and Austin.

She said Champion Force Athletics is a great program aimed to keep affordable for everyone.

“It’s something any kid can join and just do weekly,” Brackey said. “It’s something fun. You learn to dance, you learn to cheer, jumps, stunts, everything.”

She anticipated a T-shirt fundraiser coming up to help raise money for the trip where businesses can sponsor the team in exchange for being included as a sponsor on the shirt.