Fleetwood Varsity Cheer Squad Win Nationals

In late February, Fleetwood’s varsity cheer squad competed in a nationwide tournament against other high schools known as the Cheer Movement National Competition. The country’s best squads would compete for the Grand Champion title. A lot has happened on  the way to the top, but Fleetwood was able to come out as number one in the tournament.

Winning the Grand Champion title helped strengthen the already strong bond the cheerleaders have with one another.

“It made me appreciate all of the hard work that we put in this season. We battled some injuries, which forced us to have each other’s backs and step in where needed,” junior Korrin Dietrich said.

Day one of the competition was off to a rough start.

“The performance started out great, but then we went into a pyramid and my flyer fell.  We didn’t think we’d pull it back,” junior Ashney Gabriel said.

One of the squad’s main flyers fell and suffered a head injury, which hindered her ability to compete.  Junior Cailey Bergan, however, stepped up and took the flyer’s spot.

What is a flyer? The flyer is also known as the ‘top girl.’ As a flyer, she must be prepared to be thrown up in the air and have trust that her cheermates will catch her.

“I wanna shoutout Cailey Bergan because she stepped in where someone couldn’t and did superb,” Gabriel said.

“We won because of Cailey,” Nisha Savino says.  “However, I think everyone worked so hard together! It was fun, and I really enjoyed it!”

“I had to learn to do [the injured cheerleader’s part] and change where I was going for the routine, and it made me nervous to know there was a lot I had to change in a span of a little over fifteen hours,” Cailey Bergan said, describing the stress. “[My teammates] were very supportive of me and had a lot of confidence in me, which made me feel more confident in myself.”