St. Joe’s cheerleading team finishes third at nationals

The St. Joe’s cheerleading team finished third place in the National Cheerleaders Association Intermediate All-Girl Division  I Championship on April 6. 

It took place over a three day period in the Daytona Beach Ocean Center. Out of the 14 teams in their division, only eight made it from preliminary rounds to finals.

St. Joe’s capped off their championship run with a final score of 94.79. University of Maine Orono finished in second place with a score of 95.73 and Kennesaw State University finished in first place with a score of 97.63.

“The result exceeded my expectations,” said sophomore flyer Karleigh Lopez. “I’m really proud of the skills we hit. All I could have hoped for was to score as high as we possibly could.” 

Junior base Kate O’Neil said the team’s tight-knit bond separated themselves from previous St. Joe’s cheer squads. 

“We had less people so I think that brought everyone together,” O’Neil said. “Also, our seniors were tremendous. They brought so much emotion and positivity. It made everyone want to reach higher and want to work harder.”

O’Neil said the atmosphere at nationals is incomparable to the atmosphere in Hagan Arena. She said there are a lot more people watching at nationals and it’s incredibly exciting. 

“It’s a stage that many little girls dream of competing on one day,” O’Neil said. “Everywhere you turn there is another team that understands the amount of work that goes into making it to nationals, so everyone is very supportive.” 

O’Neil said nerves at basketball games are very different than at  competitions. She said in a competition, you only have one shot. 

“You have one chance to hit your routine,” O’Neil said. “Once the music begins the nerves go away because we know what we’re doing. It’s muscle memory at that point and we know that’s the time to put on a show.”  

Lopez said that the team put in a lot of hard work throughout the year, especially the week leading up to championships. 

“Throughout the year, we’ve been practicing two to three times a week,” Lopez said. “The week leading up to Daytona, we practiced every day. I even had practice on my birthday at 6:30 in the morning.” 

Lopez competed as a cheerleader for the first time in her high school and collegiate career. She said that it was a big deal for her. 

“This is my first cheerleading competition in general,” Lopez said. “This is college nationals. This is a big deal. This is what little girls in cheer dream of.”

O’Neil said the team is happy with their result. She said they wouldn’t have done anything differently.

“We’re extremely proud of how we ended up,” O’Neil said. “We knew it would be close within the top three. We said we want to make each other proud, our coaches proud, but most of all, we want to make our school proud. I don’t think there’s anything we would have done differently.”

Even though the season just came to a close, players and coaches are still focused on building a good team for the future. 

“We ended our last competition the other day and our coaches said the new season starts right away,” O’Neil said.

The Hawks are losing three seniors, two flyers and one side base. O’Neil said they’re looking for new talent. 

“We hold tryouts on May 6,” O’Neil said. “We’ll have to wait and see what the outcome is.” 

St. Joe’s will seek new talent for the future and continue to build off of what was a successful 2017-18 season.