When the Troy Cheer team finished sixth in the nation at college nationals they did it with a group of rookie male cheerleaders.

One of them was Trey Wilson.

What he says started out as a joke became the team’s first finals appearance in five years.

“We were out at Rodeo one night and it kind of started as a joke,” says Wilson. “So we signed me and my roommate, Jackson Connor, up and we went out to the clinic the next day just to see how it went and I kind of fell in love with it. Ever since then it kind of turned my whole life around. Joining the team really helped my academics put me on a schedule, from waking up early, going to bed early and just being on a tight schedule where I can benefit from that.”

That schedule got even tighter when it came time for nationals practice to begin.

“So we practice from nine to twelve and then lunch break,” says Wilson. “And then practice again from three to seven.”

While most students got to go home and enjoy their Christmas breaks with their families Trey says that the cheer team spent their time at Elm Street gym practicing for college nationals.

“We start off warm up then you have conditioning,” says Wilson. “Then you do the routine basically over and over and over again until you perfect it.”

Which led to the team hearing their name called as a national finalist.

“We were all sitting in the same spot in this arena in Orlando,” says Wilson. “We were all sitting there and they called out the first team and we figured that maybe if we made it we had been top six because our competition was really strong. So we were sitting there and they called Florida State out first and we were like ‘Oh, like we probably didn’t make it’ and then they called our name out and we all kind of looked at each other we were like ‘What?” and then it was just an emotional roller coaster. We all jumped up. We were screaming. It was a humbling feeling. It was great though. It was probably one of the best days of my life.”

For the full story watch Rex’s report.