By Christian Coffman

NATCHEZ — Natchez’s Taylor Marie Brown knows how to cheer with the best in the country.

The University of Southern Mississippi cheerleader recently returned with her cheering teammates with a fifth-place finish from the College Cheerleading National Championship in Daytona Beach, Fla.

“I found my niche in cheerleading, and I’ve always wanted to compete,” Brown said. “Competing in Daytona was a whole other level of cheerleading; it was amazing.”

The former Trinity Episcopal cheerleader has been on USM’s cheerleading team for her freshman and sophomore years. This year, she was selected to the school’s competition cheer squad.

Brown’s mother, Dee Ham, said her daughter was very excited. The event has been a dream of hers, Ham said.

“It’s definitely an honor to see her get as far as she has, and watching her is a dream come true,” Ham said.

The National Cheerleading Association is an organization that brings together hundreds of cheerleading teams from all over the nation for the championship. Brown said 16 teams were in her division.

Ham said more than 200 college cheerleading teams competed at the competition in early April in 19 cheerleading divisions.

Applicants had to send try-out videos of themselves cheerleading with their team.

“It was kind of crazy,” Brown said. “The first day was the preliminary, called the Band Show. It was stressful, and only the top 10 teams would move on from there.”

Brown said that her team passed the preliminary round, going on to the finals on their second day without having to compete in anything else.

Brown’s team finished as fifth place in the nation. This was her division’s second year competing.

Divisions are based on the colleges’ NCAA football team classifications, team size and whether the cheer teams are coed or all-girl. USM’s division is Intermediate Small Coed.

The finals were televised by CBS Sports.

“That definitely put on the nerves, when thousands of people are in front of you and at home watching,” Brown said. “But this was a dream I’ve had since I was little, and I’ve finally gotten to do it.”