Spirit

Editor's Note: Our author is a former cheerleader who has rediscovered and fallen back in love with the sport through VYPE. She cheered during her Middle School years, and later went on to coach age 6-10 girls just beginning their cheerleading career. Since covering the spirit beat for VYPE, I've slowly saturated myself back into the cheerleading scene by visiting squads across the Triangle and brushing up on new regulations. After "googling" all the unfamiliar terms, I'm not only able to differentiate between the suspended rolls and aerial twists, but I've also learned that cheerleading has advanced exponentially since I held a set of pompoms. The NCHSAA Invitational Cheerleading Competition is a prime example of those advancements. The invitational has been a tradition in North Carolina for six consecutive years and squads across the state spend months preparing for the fierce competition that unveils every year. Not only do the squads have to follow eight pages of rules, regulations and guidelines, but the teams are judged on every detail ranging from squad confidence, use of words, props and floor space to stunt timing and transition. The judges even make note on what percentage of the team tumbles (which is 100% these days). When it comes to performance time, each squad has a mere 2:30 minutes to pull off an animated, action-packed, creative and complex routine...perfectly. On Saturday, November 8th, a record total of 115 Junior Varsity and Varsity squads, 12 from the Triangle, competed in the sixth annual NCHSAA Invitational Cheerleading Competition. Teams from across the state participated in the event for a chance to win one of the sport's top honors: The Carolina Cup. The NCHSAA partners with Cheer Ltd., Inc. who established The Carolina Cup to recognize the top high school varsity cheerleading squad in the state. This year the cup was awarded to Ragsdale High School from Jamestown, NC. The competition is broken into divisions based on the number of members and the champion of each division is qualified to win The Carolina Cup. The squad with the highest overall score receives the grand honor. Although none of the Triangle's squads were officially titled as "Carolina Cup Champion," each squad came out of the event with an amazing performance and a high-ranking score. Junior Varsity Squads The JV squad from Fuquay-Varina High School won the Small Junior Varsity Division with a dazzling performance that included aerial twists, suspended splits and tick-tocks. The performance was creative, sharp and well choreographed. Millbrook High School's JV squad won the Large Junior Varsity Division using an intro of attention-grabbing back tucks. This squad mastered the basket toss as their fliers seemed to graze the arena's ceiling. Creative dance moves and animated facials sealed the deal for the Division Champs. The Cardinal Gibbons JV squad also competed in the invitational and ranked right behind Millbrook in the Large JV Division, taking home the 1st Runner-up Trophy. The squad presented creative formations with great motion variation and their stunts included some impressive aerial twists. Varsity Squads Cary High School performed with tremendous showmanship and hit some difficult stunts that included liberty-aerial twists and suspended flips. The squad placed 6th Runner-up in the Medium Varsity Division. Sanderson High School, the 2005 Carolina Cup Champ, stunned the crowd with precise execution and sharpness, creative choreography, and perfectly timed and transitioned stunts that included tumble-up deadman lifts and a totem pole variation. To top of the performance, Sanderson added perfected toe-touches and advanced tumbling. This squad was a Carolina Cup hopeful, but surprisingly took home the 2nd Runner-up title for the Large Varsity Division. Green Hope High School, Holly Springs High School, and Knightdale High School also competed in the Large Varsity Division, placing 8th, 10th, and 13th Runner-up respectively. Cardinal Gibbons, the 2007 Carolina Cup winners, showcased their famously seamless tick-tocks but also added a few aerial twists into their routine. This year, the squad placed 2nd Runner-up in the Super Varsity Division, followed by Apex at 5th Runner-up. Fuquay-Varina also competed in the Super Varsity Division and had an awesome performance that landed them at 6th Runner-up standing. The squad had great stunt height in their complex routine that included a tumble-up to suspended splits to a tick-tock. They really played with spacing and variation which made the entire performance visually appealing to the crowd. Broughton High School was the only Super Large Varsity squad from the Triangle to compete at the invitational placed 2nd Runner-up this year. The cheerleaders executed impressive stunts that included a pendulum and a challenging Swedish fall. Each of the competing squads not only pulled off a fantastic performance, but showed incredible sportsmanship towards their competition. Every participating cheerleader and coach should celebrate the hard work they've put into their squads—I've never been so proud to cover Spirit in the Triangle. For more information about the competition, please visit the NCHSAA's website at www.nchsaa.org.