Antioch takes on the NLCC
The Sequoit cheerleaders take fourth place at their conference competition.
More stories from Joseph Kestian
On Monday January 15, the varsity cheer team competed at the NLCC conference competition held at Wauconda High School.
“I was very nervous going into the competition,” junior and varsity cheerleader Rebecca Bargamian said. “I was just hoping that we would execute everything cleanly and hit our skills.”
When competing in conference, teams are not split into different divisions as they usually are. The Eagles from Lakes Community High School and the Bulldogs from Grant Community High School usually compete in the coed division, but for conference they compete in the same division as the Sequoits.
As the girls took the mat, their energy and spirits were high. They started the routine off strong with full team standing tucks, and executed their motions cleanly. Unfortunately, when they went into their stunt sequence, they had a few mistakes resulting in a one point deduction.
The Sequoits overcame their mistake and had a solid finish. They then had to wait as the rest of their competition competed and hoping to make it into the top three.
“I think we did pretty well today,” Bargamian said, “ I mean, we didn’t hit everything clean, my stunt fell, but overall I think it was a pretty good performance.”
Junior and varsity cheerleader Graci Leineberg also saw improvements throughout the team, despite their mistakes.
“I think as a whole we’ve gotten a lot stronger,” Leineberg said. “We’re getting more prepared for sectionals in the next couple weeks and we’re just working hard and pushing to get a clean routine.”
Once awards came around, athletes from each team in the conference were recognized for the Sportsmanship Award. Senior Miranda Karellas was chosen by coach Amber Babin to represent the Sequoits along with seven other athletes from each team.
Unfortunately, due to the mistakes made early in the routine, the girls did not place as high as they had hoped and ended up taking fourth place in conference.
The varsity cheerleaders compete next on Saturday January 21 at Huntley High School.
