Butler graduate Nina Hindman was heavily recruited as a cheerleader. She decided to attend the University of Delaware to chase a national championship and achieved that goal in her first season.

NEWARK, De. — Heavily recruited as a competitive cheerleader, Nina Hindman opted for the University of Delaware with hopes of winning a national championship.

She just never realized it would happen this soon.

Hindman graduated from Butler last year. She was a freshman starter on Delaware's Universal Cheerleading Association's Division I national title squad last weekend.

“It felt incredibly rewarding,” Hindman said of the championship. “All of that hard work I put in growing up and in high school finally paid off.”

Hindman was a senior on last year's Golden Tornado cheering squad that placed second at the PIAA Cheering Championships. It was Butler's first year as a coed program.

She was one of five freshman among the 16-member starting competitive cheering squad this year at Delaware.

“The experience of being on a coed team helped a little bit, but collegiate competition is so much different,” Hindman said. “You do a lot more flipping in the stunts and the pyramids are stacked three people high.

“Everything we do is more intricate, more involved.”

While Hindman is not a tall girl, she is a strong one. She serves as one of the base positions on Delaware's pyramids.

“We do a lot of conditioning and weight training here — and I've definitely gotten stronger,” she said.

Hindman was recruited by a number of other schools — Morehead State and Pitt among them — but opted for Delaware partly because of its rich tradition in the sport. The Blue Hens also captured a national championship in 2012.

Delaware won the title this year over a field of 22 Division I teams in Orlando, Fla. Syracuse, Penn State and Purdue were among other top-level programs it beat out for the crown.

“We put in so much practice time,” Hindman said. “During the national season, for about a month and a half, we practice twice a day, every day, for three hours.

“We also do conditioning, weight-lifting and running three days a week, along with cheering at the football, basketball and volleyball games.”

Through all of that, Hindman is carrying a 3.5 grade point average as a business management major.

“It keeps you busy,” she said of cheerleading. “All freshmen in the program have to do mandatory hours of studying in the library. That's been very helpful to me.

“Being a cheerleader through the years has made me more disciplined, too.”

While being recruited by Delaware, Hindman still had to make it through a tryout procedure last spring. The four-day weekend consisted of interviews, multiple rounds of cuts and a performance of skills in front of a panel that then picked the team.

While 16 cheerleaders “start” in the competitions, there are 30 cheerleaders on the squad. Hindman said 45 tried out last year.

She will have to go through the tryout process every year to remain on the squad.

“There are high expectations here,” Hindman said. “I want to keep myself ready to stay on the first team and help maintain this level of success for the next few years.”

Two other former Butler cheerleaders — Jensen Wehrli and Jillian Tilko — are on the Slippery Rock University competitive cheering squad that placed fourth at UCA Nationals in Division II.