The team members began arriving on campus in August with one rather ambitious goal in mind.

The University of New Haven's dance team had never competed in a national event and that was about the change as head coach Ashley McClain believed she had the team ready to represent the Chargers against the best teams in the nation. Just over seven months later, the Chargers arrived in Orlando ready to see where they stood against elite competition.

Earning a seventh-place finish in the Jazz competition was impressive enough. However, in the pom event the first-time competitors ended up earning second while competing against four other Division II programs.

"This was a category we never competed in," said Kelly Mirando (Propsect Conn./), a junior from Prospect. "A lot of girls on our team, it was first time competing in that category, so to know that we worked so hard to get there. Getting second place was definitely a rewarding moment and it definitely felt good as a team."

This has been a gradual process of getting the program to the point where they could go head-to-head against teams that go to nationals every year. McClain believed this was the perfect year for all of this to come together.

"We knew that if we were doing this, we had to step up our games tremendously from what we wore to how we represented the university to how we presented ourselves as well," McClain said. "We knew going into this year that it was going to happen, it was just a matter of putting in the amount of work to make it happen.

"Just getting there has been surreal because it has been a goal for this team in general for the last five years that I have been coaching so to walk in and see some of the other teams that were there that we looked up to and we admired, some of the choreographers and coaches, I was filled with pride."

Rather than focus on either the jazz or the pom routine, McClain wanted to challenge the team members by entering two events that are very difficult in pace and style.

"Our pom dance is very hard hitting, it is all about strong arm jumps and tricks and hitting everything super sharp," said Irene Pfeffer (Plainview, N.Y./), a sophomore from Plainview, N.Y. "Our jazz [routine] was slower, it was contemporary, the movements are more flowy and it was definitely a big difference between the two."

Both Pfeffer and Mirando got involved in dance at age 2 and come from families with some involvement in dance competitions. Getting the chance to make the jump from being on their high school dance teams to competing for a national title at New Haven was something that motivated them and their teammates.

"In pom you are focused on looking like one, there is one of you out there even though there are 15," Mirando said. "Even though you are doing the same for jazz, it is a little more lenient on how you look if you look the same."

The Chargers began working on their routines in November and by January were taking part in a regional competition, all with the goal of thriving on the national stage in April.

Now that New Haven has been a part of College Classic, the plans are already being made to return in 2024.

"I am more excited for the drive that is in them now because I know the girls who are returning are ready to go for next year," McClain said. "I already have some of our seniors that are graduating texting me ideas and plans, they want to come for tryouts and lay out what we can do for next year. I think it has helped push the program tremendously."