Cheerleaders from Radford, Mililani and Punahou high schools placed in the top 10 of their respective divisions last weekend in the National Cheerleading Association (NCA) Junior and High School National Championships in Dallas.

Radford finished third, Mililani sixth and Punahou seventh in their respective divisions in the event that is known to bring the some of the best in the nation.

Preliminaries were held Dec. 28, followed by the finals on Dec. 29.

Radford, the defending Hawai'i High School Athletic Association champions, finished in third place in the Small Co-Ed Varsity division (squads consisting of 20 members with 1-4 being male).

Mililani placed sixth in the Medium Varsity division (squads consisting of 11-15 female members).

Punahou finished seventh in the Small Varsity division (squads consisting of 10 or fewer female members).

Radford's team consisted of three freshmen, three sophomores, two juniors, and three seniors.

National powerhouses including Sachse High School of Texas, Mustang High School of Oklahoma and Choctawhatchee High School of Florida were in the same division as Radford.

"I knew going in that it would be difficult to make top five this year, with only eleven members on my squad and the other teams have up to 20 members," Radford coach Bo Frank said in an e-mail.

Radford scored 8.87 in the preliminaries but responded with a 9.19 in the finals.

Radford's overall score was 9.13.

Sachse finished first with an overall score of 9.23.

All three Hawai'i teams return home to finish the competitive season with their league championships and upon qualification, the state finals on Jan. 21 at the Stan Sheriff Center.