Colonia Athletics has had quite a year, competing and having intense and high-level schedules. The Competition Cheer team at Colonia High, has been one of these teams, leading to a state championship.
The competition cheer team, run by guidance counselor and sideline cheerleading coach at CHS, Andrea Simkovich, had an outstanding year, placing many times at different competitions.
A Family
The team begins practice slightly after sideline cheer, or football games end in early November. From there, the competition team practices from 3-4 times a week, working on their movements, stunts and tumbling.
“I love competition cheer. The team has such great chemistry; we all get along very well,” junior, Jill Pero commented. This is Pero’s third year on the varsity competition team, and has loved it ever since her freshman year.
It is easy to see where Pero is coming from when describing the charisma of the team; the program is based on being family-like. The girls are with each other for most of the week, between practicing and tumbling. They also spend many hours together during all day competitions, and get ready together early in the morning before them.
In losing many of the talented seniors from the class of 2018, underclassmen had to step up in contributing to the team this year. The team rosters 16 cheerleaders; this year holding 6 freshman, 1 sophomore, 5 juniors and 4 seniors. The majority of the team would be the freshman, who stepped it up this year.
Competition
A cheerleading competition consists of an extremely long and tiring day. Teams sit and observe others for hours, before they finally are able to take the mat. When it is their turn, they have 5 minutes on 3 different warm up mats; one for stretching, one for tumbling and one for stunting. Then the girls take the floor and have 5 minutes to solely perform in front of many judges.
This was a similar setup to what the CHS competition team experienced a few weekends ago, on Sunday, February 16, when the team made history.
Emily Rodas, a junior, was very nervous when waiting for results after their performance. “We weren’t sure about the outcome. There were many skilled teams in our group, so we were all very anxious. I remember just holding everyone’s hand and then seeing everyone cry happy tears once our name was called. It was something I will remember for the rest of my life,” Rodas commented on winning.
2000, was the last time that the competition cheer team had come close to this honor, winning the division, but not the state group. This year, Colonia placed second for the title of winning the division, losing to Wood-ridge by 2.4 points.
But they also won first in their State Group, which has never been done before for cheer here at CHS. State group is based on the size of the team, and is very competitive. But the girls were able to pull through, and achieve something that many may never experience in their high school career.
The Competition Cheer team made history this year, accomplishing something that Colonia has never done. The girls were able to overcome having a younger team, and worked hard through practice and competitions to get to the top. They will be receiving state rings, something that many teams will never experience, and will be remembered by Colonia forever.
