AUBURN - The world of competitive cheerleading is a demanding and at times a grueling endeavor, with long hours of practice and travel all over the country for competitions.

But it is also a world that can be quite rewarding.

For Auburn natives Kristen Long, 13, and Allie Leogrande, 16, both members of the Central New York Storm, one of cheerleading's greatest accomplishments was bestowed upon them when their squad took first place at the world competition in Baltimore.

“It felt really good,” Long said. “The whole team was excited. I kept thinking 'Yes I got the jacket (the prize for winning the competition), now I can go home.' I think we did really well and it was really exciting.”

Long's mother, Sue Valentino, said that as soon as she got the call from her daughter, she knew the team had achieved something great.

“All they really wanted was those jackets,” Valentino said. “And as soon as she called me that was the first thing she said to me, was they got their jackets. It was a really exciting call to get.”

This milestone marked the culmination of what is a long season of practices that began in May 2006.

But this intense focus has its advantages.

“It is a lot of fun,” Long said. “I don't even know what to say really. It is so much more challenging and I've made a lot of friends and I have improved a lot. We get to travel and compete, the whole thing is just so much fun.”

After months of practice and preliminary competitions, the girls found themselves headed for Dallas in February.

“That felt great,” Long said. “We worked extra hard, we were practicing three times a week, but it really paid off.”

The Storm took sixth place out of 18 teams.

“It was good competition,” Long said. “There were some really good teams there and I was really happy we did so well.”

After Dallas, the girls moved on to compete in Ocean City and the Reach the Beach competition where the Storm placed first, earning a fully-paid bid to the world competition in Baltimore.

“We still had two more competitions,” Long said. “But I think we all felt a lot more comfortable after we won there and knew we were going to Baltimore.”

But this was not time to rest on laurels.

“We still had to work hard and do well in the other competitions,” Long said. “We knew that we had to get prepared for Baltimore.”

And there were a few hurdles to overcome along the way.

Injuries and other obligations forced the team to make some last minute changes as they geared up for worlds.

“There were some injuries and Allie was actually going to be in California,” Valentino said. “And Allie is so good it is tough to replace someone like her.”

But Long said overcoming these difficulties actually sparked the team to push themselves further.

“I think it kind of worked to our advantage,” Long said. “We had to make changes and we had some graduations from the team so the cheer and routine had to be changed. We had two weeks to get ready for Baltimore, but I think it really helped. We brought up some juniors and they were really excited and I think it helped us to try to do better.”

When they headed to the competition, Long said team spirits were high.

“I think we felt pretty confident,” Long said. “Before we went on we were all really nervous, knowing this was our last competition and we really didn't know what to expect.”

But once they hit the mats that all changed.

“We got really excited,” Long said. “I think we did well and we were excited to see what was going to happen. It was really competitive and there were some really good teams, but we hit everything we had to and ended up doing really well.”

After this momentous victory there was a quick one-week break before it was time to start all over again.

With tryouts and several new members joining the team, there hasn't been much time to sit back and reflect, but Long is confident this season's team has the same potential as her world champion squad.

“I feel like we have a really good team,” Long said. “And we have really good coaches and I think we can do really well this season. There are two nationals in Texas and Florida and I think we can do pretty good in those and have another good season.”