After getting a bid at regionals, the cheer team is heading to Florida to compete in the National High School Cheerleading Championship. The division they will be competing in is Medium Varsity D1 Game Day, with the goal of getting first in their division.
“Yes we get to go to Florida and Disney which is unreal and a lot of fun, but we go there for a reason and for a common goal,” senior cheer captain Manuelita Perez said. “We go to do our very best work that we have been working at. When we leave we should be proud of ourselves knowing we tried our very best and left everything we had on that mat.”
Being the first team in the competition to compete means competing very early in the morning. Coach Tondre is starting with morning practices in order to get the cheerleaders used to having that spirited energy early in the morning. Most practices are just running their routine 2 times all the way through.
“With nationals coming up it is scary but I know we can push through and focus on winning. I feel pretty good about it, but we’re still working on our sharpness and our spirit,” freshman Emma Vaello said. “I’m excited for Disney and I know traveling with the team is going to be a blast and definitely help with the nerves.”
If all goes as planned, the cheerleaders will have 3 days of competition. Friday, Feb. 7, is the first day they will be competing their game day routine. Saturday, Feb. 8, is a possible competition day depending on if they make it to semi-finals or not. And Sunday, Feb. 9, they would compete their routine one last time if they made it to finals.
“I’m very excited for nationals to see how we do as a team,” freshman Chloe Israel said. “I think we can be intimidated by the size of other teams but I know that we can do very good if we do our best and use everything we’ve learned and critiqued this year to make our routine the best it can be.” “Disney will be so excited especially with how close everything is and I know we’ll have a lot of fun and learn so much on this trip.”
