Basically at all two day competitions day two is where it counts. Some comps, like Worlds, just use day 1 to give you a placing and then scrap the score completely and start fresh for day 2. Some take an average and work out a final score across both days. I think they said on the show that at Daytona it's 25% from day 1 and 75% from day 2 but I'm going to be honest and say I have no idea how that actually works in practice as I'm not a qualified judge and we don't have many two day comps here in the UK. Although I'm going to make an attempt at figuring it out below
Long story short, you ALWAYS want to perform better day 2. Champions are made on day 2.
Here's what I can learn from looking at the score breakdowns (all available publically -
https://www.varsity.com/nca/wp-cont...Large-Coed-Junior-College-Finals-Averages.pdf)
On Day 1 - Navarro had a raw score of 98.33 with zero deductions. They would be looking to push that score higher on day 2 for security which they could do by upping their execution score (just performing a cleaner routine) or by trying to get a better choreo or overall impression score. Like Monica says on the show, cheerleading is a subjective sport - so much of it depends on what an individual judge thinks of your routine. She said the judges sometimes score quite conservatively on day 1 - I've also known judges to hold back slightly on the first few teams of a division on day 1 as they don't want to give out super high scores right off the bat as everything coming after needs to compare.
TVCC had a raw score of 97.77 and 1.75 of deductions. This took their score down to 96 so they were really needing to not only hit a clean routine on day 2, but also up their score as they were behind Navarro's raw score by effectively two thirds of a point.
25% of Navarro's score is 24.58 and TVCC's is 24 so honestly not much difference in what they are taking in to day 2. Hence why the day 2 score is what really counts.
Day 2 - Navarro got a .75 deduction for the fall. This also meant their "stunt execution" score dropped to 4.8 when it had been 4.9 the previous day. They upped their pyramid score and jump score but didn't make improvements anywhere else. Final score for day 2 performance was 97.98. 75% of this is 73.49.
TVCC really nailed day 2. They upped their scores in all building categories (stunts, pyramids, tosses) and also improved their choreography score AND overall effect score. Plus no deductions. Their total day 2 score was 98.96 so almost a full point higher than Navarro. 75% of this is 74.22.
Navarro total event score - 24.58 + 73.49 =
98.07
TVCC total event score - 24 + 74.22 =
98.22
TVCC upping those scores on day 2 really made all the difference, although if Navarro hadn't got that deduction they would still have won. It just highlights how close it was and how deductions can really change the final rankings. So much of cheer comes down to your luck on the day as well as the judges own personal preferences - really interesting that TVCC improved their choreo and overall impression scores since the actual substance of the routine probably didn't change between days, but they said themselves they didn't feel good on day 1 so probably brought it more on day 2. The judges can tell when you are enjoying yourself and will score accordingly.
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