Girls cheer team wins national competition for fallen teammate

It is a bittersweet night for a local cheer team celebrating victory after a tragic loss.

They just won a big championship in honor of their fallen teammate 9-year-old Adriana Douglas. The little girl drowned last month in a hotel pool in Chicago.

An amazing ending to what began as a tragic and hard luck story. The young ladies from the Westside Cubs cheerleading team was at Metro PCS in Garden City Wednesday having a victory lap, a party and a homecoming.

The team won a national cheerleading competition in Orlando, Florida recently but to fully appreciate that, you have to know what it took for them to get there.

This all started back in November, when their teammate Adriana Douglas died drowning in a pool after they won a regional cheerleading competition. The girls vowed that they would make it to nationals and do a great job in their teammate's honor but they did not have the funds to get down to Orlando.

It seemed like it wouldn't happen until at the last minute quite a few people stepped up, including the owner of the Metro PCS with a hefty donation allowing the girls to get down to that competition in Florida where they won the national championship. They returned home with a couple of trophies in Adriana Douglas' honor.

"It's very important to me that the morale of the girls was better," said Latise Douglas, Adrianna's mother. "By going on this trip and being able to come back home victorious for my daughter. My daughter was scheduled to be there with them. I know she's shining down and smiling and cheering and she rooted for her team.

"I'm really, really happy because it's something very special to honor her."

"It's very good because we all tried our best and our coaches were helping us and making sure we did better to win," said Nyla Sewell.

FOX 2: "And you did all of that for Adrianna?"

"Yes, yes we did," Sewell said. "We are always going to have her in our hearts."

Michael Hager, the owner of the Metro PCS donated $3,000 to make the team's trip possible after seeing the story on FOX 2.

"I really wanted to help these kids and keep them going, they not alone in this," said Michael Hager. "We want to honor that little girl that died in Chicago. I'm willing to do anything just to put a smile on their face."