The competitive cheer team placed 2nd at the 2nd United Spirit Association Regional Competition on January 8.

The team qualified and will be competing at nationals on February 25-26 at the Anaheim Convention Center. Last year due to COVID-19 the competitions were cancelled, and this is the competition team’s 1st year back.

Captain senior Juliet Diamantidis said, “Competing was very exciting. It was definitely the cherry on top after not being able to compete for an entire year.”

The team competed in both regional competitions and placed for nationals both times, using the notes from the judges from the 1st competition to improve their score. “We mostly took our judge’s corrections from our previous competition where we placed 3rd and it worked really well because we placed 2nd and I think we were only 2 points off from 1st place. So if we were to take our judges’ corrections this time, I’m sure we could make it to the 1st place group for nationals,” said Diamantidis.

Competition cheerleader junior Anna Stubbington said, “It was definitely nerve wracking to be able to compete in the 2nd competition that we went to. We only had spectators from Campo though as opposed to the 1st [competition where] anyone could come. So it was a little less stressful the 2nd time.”

“We…improved our score by about 5 points [compared to the 1st competition] and placed 2nd. The team was thrilled especially since we just came off of winter break and finals and were not able to practice during those times. The team put in a lot of hours and hard work that 1st week back at school, and it really paid off,” said cheer coach Selin Wold.

The team had 6 A.M. morning practices as well as after school every day leading up to the competition.

“We were physically and mentally exhausted to get to where we were and it paid off so well, and I couldn’t be more proud of the team,” Diamantidis added.

Stubbington said, “Competing in cheer is not necessarily like competing in any other sport because you spend months and months preparing just to go out there and do 2 minutes of routine as opposed to something like football where you’ve got game after game, cheer is just a little bit more special in that way.”

As this is Wold’s 2nd year as coach and the competitions last year were cancelled, this is her 1st competition with the team. “This has been a very thrilling year for me. Watching the Comp team evolve from last summer to now has been very exciting. Half the team is new to Comp, but they have shown that they are willing to put in the time and energy to put up great routines and improve their skills along the way. I couldn’t be more proud of them,” said Wold.

Diamantidis added, “It’s just so amazing that we have the opportunity to continue even with the circumstances.”