Cheerleading Squad Comes in Second at Local Competition

Author: Gillian Wood

When one thinks of cheerleading, young girls with curly hair and lots of make-up in short skirts may come to mind. One never imagines the bruises, black eyes, nail scratches, broken noses and bruised ribs, that go on behind the scenes. When I walked into my first cheer competition this spring, I felt like I had stepped onto the set of "Bring It On."
It was a completely different world. But after the initial shock of the aesthetics of cheerleading, I saw other teams practicing their stunts and gymnastics which immediately illuminated the athleticism, strength and courage intrinsic to the sport.
On March 22, at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., the Middlebury cheerleading team walked away with a second place trophy out of six teams at the New England Cheer and Dance Challenge.
The team consists of 10 competitive members: Mark Danbe '03, Naomi Andrews '03, Anna Rita Pergolizzi '04, Laurie Wollin '05, O'Neil Walker '05, Grace Hardy '03, Melissa Crabb '05, Gillian Wood '03, Katie Perekslis '06 and Sarah Peters '03 and Head Coach Pam Moser.
The competitive team was founded last year by Pergolizzi and gained experience through performing in McCullough shows, commons picnics and sporting events. This spring was its first season of competition.
The New England Cheer and Dance Challenge was only its second competitive experience as a team, and it performed nearly flawlessly, sticking every stunt and tumbling pass. Only the week before, it had mastered the back-tuck basket-toss, in which a base of three or four people toss a flyer, who then does a back flip and comes down in the others' arms. All three of these components flew with height, confidence, and grace.
At the competition, there were six small co-ed college teams, including Anna Maria College, St. Anselms College, Worcester State, St. Josephs College and York University of Canada. The first place finishers received a total of 230.5 out of 300 points. Middlebury College came in second with a score of 212.5. Three judges scored the schools on five different categories: communication, fundamental skills, group techniques, overall effect and sportsmanship. Middlebury's strengths were its dancing and its three-level stunts. The team feels it needs better timing of its jumps and louder cheering.
Moser said this routine was "simple but solid, and gave us the foundation for our cheer team." Three-fourths of the team had no cheer experience and with only five weeks to perform, the team did a great job coming together and letting its talents shine. Moser said, "Each team member was striding to hit his or her part and do the best he or she could." Each individual was on target and together they lit up the competition floor.