Girls prepare for competition, strive for superior rank

The girls cheer team practices every morning before school for the winter cheer competition. This year’s first cheer competition will be held at Buchanan High School, Dec. 1.

As the cheer team prepares themselves mentally and physically, up to 26 high schools and six middle schools will be participating in the CIF Central Section Cheer and Dance Championships. Coach Hope Villines takes charge to get the girls fully ready for the competition. 

Working as the varsity cheer coach for six years at Fresno Christian, Villines describes how the girls have prepared for the competition.

“This team actually learned their comp routine early, we started learning it in August,” Villines said. “They have been working very, very hard on this for a few months. We’ve never been ready for this particular CIF competition in the past, this will be the first year the junior high and high school are competing this early in the season.”

This cheer competition was designed for all CIF section schools. The winning high schools will be ranked in division one through nine. Junior Kayden Marquez explains her expectations from this competition and looks forward to performing in front of judges.

“Yes, I am excited for the cheer competition,” Marquez said. “I think this team works really well together so I hope people see that on the mat. I’m not nervous for the competition; I’m excited to show everyone what we have been working on since summer. We have had a little trouble in certain places in the routine so I hope the energy of the crowd gives us the confidence to hit everything. I am going into the competition expecting everyone to leave it all on the mat. That’s all I could ask for, everyone giving their 110 percent.”

Cheer team captain, Amanda Grimmius, ’18, shares her excitement for the upcoming cheer competition.

“I’m so excited for competition,” Grimmius said. “There’s always nerves, but I’m really feeling proud of my team because we’ve come so far and overcome so much to get to where we are. To prepare, we’ve had a lot of hard practices, where we take sections of our routine and work on them until they’re ready. I’m expecting to do well, but all that matters is that we are proud of what we do.

“At competition, we all perform at different times in front of a crowd, and we’re grouped into divisions based on squad size and level of difficulty,” Grimmius continued. “Because this is my last year, I’m excited to finish strong and be proud of my time on the team. Of course I’m sad this is my last year, but I can’t wait to see what the rest of the year holds.”

It’s not too late to go out and support the Lady Eagles. Show up at Buchanan High School at 1:30 p.m. and the cheer team preforms at 1:48 for their three minute performance, Dec. 1.

For more articles on the campus cheer team, read Eunie McEntee impacts cheerleader’s lives or BREAKING: Final cheer competition, March 10.

Annabelle Messer can be reached via email and Twitter.