Junior Logan Hayes bounces on her heels, palms sweating, stomach wrought with nerves. As she approaches the mat, cheers of onlookers ringing in her ears, Hayes puts down her sign, lines up into the formation, and prepares herself for the music to start.  

“We practice so many hours for this, and it all comes down to that two minutes and 30 seconds,” said Hayes. “It really counts because we really want to make our school proud.”

Varsity cheerleading placed second and JV got first at the first Charm City Classic at Notre Dame Prep on February 21. In addition, sophomore Nicole Sanders placed second in the jump off and senior captain Kayla Rolek and sophomore Emily Jefferson were named shining stars.

Mount de Sales placed first in the varsity division, followed by John Carroll, Mount Carmel, Mercy, and the Institute of Notre Dame, respectively.

“Not to sound cocky, but I honestly think we should have beaten Mount de Sales. These past couple of weeks we have all worked so hard and our routine has really come together. I think we looked awesome today, so I’m happy everyone did the best that they could,” said senior captain Allison Davies.

Coach Sandy Jones, class of ’97, said that the team did “very well” specifically because “our tumbling is strong, our energy level is high, and the overall cleanliness of the routine.”

Added Davies, “We’ve really started encouraging each other and cheering each other on, [allowing us to] work better as a team.”

However, before Reach the Beach in Ocean City next Saturday, Jones hopes to see the team work on the “strength of pyramids,” although she believes they “should place in the top five at least.”

About the team’s prospects next weekend, Davies said, “If we continue working hard at practice these next couple of days, we should be able to perfect our routine and place highly in our division.”

Overall, “We’ve had a good season and worked hard to come together as a team,” said Jones.

JV, competing against a set score, placed first. Said coach Shelby Emich, “I’m very proud of all of them. No matter whether they get first or second, their attitudes are always very good and they keep a positive outlook.”

About the victory, freshman Michelle Cappiello said, “It was very exciting because we know we worked really hard, but we still weren’t hitting our stunts [during the practice runs]. So when we found out that we got first, it was a very happy moment.”

Emich cites JV’s strengths during the competition as “having fun, awesome focus, and energy,” although there is “always room for improvement,” specifically in “motions, timing, and hitting stunts.”

Cappiello added, “I think our facials and jumps were our strongest [aspect].”

With Reach the Beach, the last competition of the season, looming, Cappiello said, “It will take a lot of hard work, but since we got first at NDP, I think that it was a good ‘confidence booster’ for all of us. This week, we are going to try and get our one-legged stunts extended and work on our timing throughout our routine.”

In addition, shining star was the first individual achievement aspect of the competition. According to senior captain Rachel Norton, for shining star, special judges watch two cheerleaders selected from each team to determine their individual success during the routine and then compete against the scores of other cheerleaders.

“It feels good to be a shining star because only three girls got the award out of all five teams there. And it makes me happy that all my hard work paid off,” said Rolek.

A separate competition was held, jumps and tumbling, where interested cheerleaders paid five dollars to compete by showing off their three best jumps or preferred tumbling pass. Freshman Lauren Heim competed in the tumble off, while Sanders, sophomore Kelly McGill, Hayes, and freshman Taylor DiPaula participated in the jump off.

Sanders, who performed a toe touch, right hurdler, and pike, did the jump off because “a lot of the girls were encouraging me to do it and I figured that I should at least try.”

About placing, Sanders said, “It was exciting. I didn’t really think I would do that well.”

The competition was hosted at NDP after Maryland Independent Schools could not host the competition this year.  

As a result, “we decided to put it on,” said NDP coach Theresa Brethauar, class of ’88. “The competition was very successful. I’ve run competitions before and this went extremely smoothly. Everyone came together as Catholic, private, independent schools, and did a great job.”

Although Brethauar was unsure about why Maryland Independent did not happen this year, she said that “we [NDP] would love to host this again.”

 Kate Froehlich can be reached for comment at [email protected].