The FHS Cheer Team Wins First Place in Somerset County and at the UCA Northeast Regional

Written by: Audrey Cheung

On Thursday November 13, the FHS Cheer Team won first place in their Traditional Routine for Somerset County. The team competed against seven other teams and won for their Traditional Routine.

To keep the momentum going, on Sunday, November 16, the FHS Cheer Team won first place in their Traditional Routine and earned Second Place for the Co-Ed division in their Gameday Routine at the UCA Northeast Regional Competition. 

Before stepping on the mat, the cheerleaders expressed a mix of emotions - such as fear, excitement, confidence, and nervousness - during their warm-ups. The cheer team also had a pre-mat pep talk that helped the athletes calm their nerves down and get excited for the competition.  As part of this warm up, together as a team they take a deep breath, take two stomps, and yell warriors before walking out to perform. After preforming, many cheerleaders said they felt proud for not just themselves, but for the team as a whole, making them even more confident in themselves that they would win. 

When the cheerleading team went to awards, many felt confident, but also nervous to see what place they would get. Many of the athletes said they thought they would get fourth place or lower, and some said they didn’t care as long as they got the bid to the NHSCC (National High School Cheerleading Championship). When they received the award, many of them were left speechless.