Competitive Edge
By: Kaitlyn Nichol

On November 3rd, the Cheer Team competed in the regional competition and secured their bid to nationals. Nationals are held every year at Disney World in February; however, the team only gets to travel and compete every other year. Before they proceed to nationals, though, they are competing in the state competition in January.
Junior, Elizabeth Martel gives insight into what the team is doing to prepare. She describes the number of additional practices the team is scheduling leading up to January. “We are also taking our feedback from regionals this past weekend and taking the judge’s critiques and from there, we’re fixing what they suggested that way we’ll have better scores at state and nationals,” she states.
The Cheer Team had the opportunity to go to nationals in 2018 and ended up getting 3rd in the nation. They hope to defend their top 5 title this year and to see all of their hard work pay off. “Getting to see the progress of the team evolve from the first few practices to where we will be in February is one of the most rewarding things to watch” Martel said.
Many of the cheerleaders find competition season (late winter to early spring) to be even more fun than cheering at Friday night football games in the fall. “The rush you get on the mats and the butterflies you get before performing is something I’ve never experienced anywhere else,” Martel said.

Photo by Jyl Martel