Cheer claims west coast championship
On Saturday, Jan. 27, Samo’s Varsity and Junior Varsity cheer teams took home first place and national titles at the Universal Cheerleading Association (UCA) West Coast Championships Competition. For cheerleading, competition season is during winter, with regionals typically starting in November and nationals taking place in February. The preparation process for championships started in April 2017. The team spent countless hours conditioning and perfecting their program for competition. Both varsity and junior varsity members had been working towards this competition, along with California and Florida Nationals in late February, all season long. However, according to three-year varsity veteran and captain, Hannah Hoff (’18), all the time and work was worth it. “The best part is when the music starts on the mats, because all of your nerves disappear; your two minutes and 30 seconds has begun. My other favorite part is hitting with my teammates. During the third segment, when you hit, you feel it, and you start yelling and screaming for each other. When the music stops and everything went well, you bump down and start hugging each other. There's tears sometimes too,” Hoff said. In previous seasons, the competition was held in Anaheim. This year due to new CIF rule changes, there was a different venue. The setting for the 2018 West Coast Championships was Arnold O. Beckman High School in Santa Ana, CA. As of February, 2018, cheerleading is officially being recognized as a sport by CIF. Due to this, their whole season has been rearranged. Since the USA Nationals competition (a separate competition company to UCA) was pushed up from March to February, the common venue of the Anaheim convention center was be used for Nationals rather than West Coast Championships. The varsity team competed in the “Medium Varsity Non Tumble” Division and won first out of six other California teams. The Junior Varsity team competed in “JV Non tumble” and won first as the only team in their division. “Competing against six teams is fairly normal for our division. We were confident and comfortable with our routine and we knew what other teams were bringing to the mat,” Hoff said. Having won last year, Samo competed as reigning champions and looked forward to maintained their title for the 2017-18 season. After making it to the semifinal round at UCA Nationals in Orlando, Samo’s final endeavor of this season was USA nationals in late February. USA Nationals is the last competition of season and the only Nationals that JV competes at. Both teams arrived at noon on Friday, February 23 and competed against schools nationwide. After two days of competition, both teams won first in their categories, making Samo’s cheer teams the best in the United States. But beyond competitions and titles, Samo has other things in store. On Monday February 26, the head coach for both teams, Nicole Perrine, announced that this was her last season and will be moving to New York City for next year. Perrine has coached Samo’s team for the past three years. Due to her being the only coach, and her firing JV coach, Arianna Torres in the fall of 2016, Perrine leaving will mean completely new leadership for the program. Although they will miss her and the future is uncertain, the girls remain confident and optimistic for what’s next. “No one is ready for what Samo has [coming] next season. This program has improved so much in the past three years, and there are no boundaries for next year. I cannot wait to watch this team take the mats next year, but from the other side of the mats!” Hoff said.