The UHS Competitive Cheer team set out for the FHSAA regionals that were held at Bishop Moore High school earlier this month on Friday, January 13th and placed third overall in the competition. While they were hoping for a first or second place win to ensure their place at finals, their third place finish means they must compete in the semi-finals in order to qualify for the state competition. “We placed third in our region, but what matters to me is whenever we go on the mat to compete we give our very best,” says senior and Cheer Captain, Grace Bingle. As they advance to States, the team is preparing to face difficult competition. “I am looking forward to competing at States because it is a culmination of all our hard work this season,” said Bingle.

  Preparing for these competitions has been a rigorous yet rewarding process for the team. “Going to a regional competition allows us to compare our talents to other top teams in the region that we will be competing against at the state and national level,” stated Competition Cheer Coach Janet Sterner. At UCA regionals the team performed their 3 minute “Game Day” routine. Game Day is “…an up and coming style of cheer where teams perform a 3 minute routine similar to what they do at games when leading the crowd along the sidelines,” explained Sterner.

Unfortunately, the team was unable to attend UCA Nationals due to a misunderstanding of the requirements, UCA nationals requires teams to attend a two-day camp over the summer, however the team was unaware of this and only went for 1 day. However, the team’s talent was not overlooked by other large cheer companies, once they found out about Nationals they were offered a large bid to compete in the Nfinity American Cup National Competition. This is a two-day competition that will be held in February at Universal Studios. and will give the team an opportunity to not only show off their skills but also enjoy the parks at Universal.