The curtain rose, revealing the JV cheer team in silent repose. The crowd screamed, prompting the cheerleaders to begin their routine that would determine whether they remained undefeated throughout the season.

The JV cheerleaders competed at the twenty-ninth annual Six Flags Magic Mountain California Cheerleading Championships and earned 1st place, concluding JV cheer’s first undefeated competition season in campus history, Feb. 23.

“I cried because I knew that the JV team had accomplished something that had never been done at FC before: a perfect season,” Katie Mendenhall, cheer coach, said. “They have won on all levels: Christian, secular, local and state. It was a perfect end to a perfect season.”

The JV squad opposed five other teams in the large JV (13-20 members) division at the competition, sponsored by David Mirisch Enterprises, celebrity and event coordinators.

“We had never seen any of the competitors before, so I was a bit doubtful,” sophomore Holly Savage, JV cheer co-captain, said. “We saw their size and it was a bit intimidating.”

In addition to unfamiliarity with the opposing teams, the JV cheerleaders struggled with the mat arrangement on stage.

“The mats usually face forward, vertically, marking the places where we stand,” Savage said, “but at this competition they were turned horizontally so we didn’t know how to stand. We all focused so much on spacing so we weren’t as loud as we should have been.”

Not only toiling with the mats and competitors, the JV cheer team felt they received an undesirable amount of time to warm up.

“We were given time on the mats to warm up stunts and that was pretty much it,” Savage said. “We had no time to practice the floor routine. All we had time to do was to go up on stage and get in position before the curtain was drawn.”

Despite the obstacles, the JV cheerleaders succeeded in completing an undefeated season.

JV cheerleaders accredit success to commitment, appreciate unprecedented accomplishment

Savage recognizes her teammates dedication to excellence in contrast to last year’s losing season.

“We had a really bad season last year where we didn’t win at all,” Savage said. “There was so much dedication this year, even in the freshmen. They were willing to work hard to get to where we are now.”

Elizabeth Grossman, JV Cheer co-captain, commends the cheerleaders’ effort.

“We worked so hard this year,” Grossman, ’10, said. “We worked really hard at practices and almost nobody missed them. Everyone being there every day made all the difference.”

Shelby Decker, JV cheerleader, relishes being the first campus JV team to go undefeated throughout the season.

“It’s like a dream come true,” Decker, ’11, said. “A JV team [on campus] has never gone undefeated so for us to be the first JV team to have that title for FC feels great.”

Decker recognizes the team’s success at the first competition as a motivation to improve and continue winning.

“After we got 1st place and Grand Champs at the first competition, we wanted to keep getting first and have that great feeling,” Decker said, “so we kept working our hardest.”

Although the current cheerleading season ended with this competition, Grossman looks forward to next year and seeing the cheerleaders’ talent evolve.

“They have a lot of skills and they’re really good at tumbling,” Grossman said. “They’ve seen what can happen if they work really hard and put in a lot of effort.”

For more information on JV cheer, visit Madison Dooley’s Feb. 21, 2008, article, JV cheer named Grand Champions or the FC cheer page.