Who cheers for cheerleaders?

PHOTO: The Davis High competition cheer team won the national finals in Las Vegas, Nevada on Jan. 29.

By Stella Maze

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

The Davis High competition cheerleading team ended their undefeated season by winning the national JAMZ Cheer and Dance competition in Las Vegas. 

The competition took place on Jan. 27-29 where teams from Oregon, Texas, Hawaii, Nevada, California and more competed.

DHS cheerleaders won first place in their division. Overall, they were the ninth-highest score out of the 148 teams that competed. 

The cheer team won each of its five competitions during its ten-month long season. Athletes traveled to Pomona, California in December for another big competition and in addition to winning within their division, they also had the highest score of all school teams in the entire competition. 

During competitions, each team prepares a routine. Judges score the routine according to criteria within multiple categories such as facial expression, stunt difficulty, jump height, transitional motions, dance execution, etc. 

“You don’t get a second try when you compete, you either hit a routine with zero deductions or you don’t,” senior cheerleader Zuria Horning said. 

Every routine is 2 minutes and thirty seconds and must have a jump, dance, stunt and pyramid section. 

“It’s hard to capture in words how challenging 2 minutes and thirty seconds is in a cheer routine but … you have to be in top shape to make it through a routine,” senior cheerleader Lauren McGilvray said.

Despite their success, cheerleaders and coaches have felt consistent underappreciation from the school and community. 

“(I) feel like we aren’t treated the same as other sports,” competition cheerleading coach Tamara Reed said. 

 “People think cheerleading is what they see at football games, but competition cheer is totally different,” she added. 

Horning shared the sentiment. Horning has been on the cheer team for four seasons and has never felt completely recognized by the school for her athletic accomplishments. 

“You hear about the basketball or football team 24/7 … while the cheer team has remained undefeated and has won several national titles and it hasn’t been mentioned,” Horning said. 

For competitive sports at DHS, each team usually has a senior night which is meant to celebrate the graduating athletes and their accomplishments as a part of their team. However, there is no dedicated senior night for competitive cheer. 

Instead, both sideline and competition cheerleaders are celebrated with the senior football players during their senior night game. 

“I don’t think anyone would come to our senior night if it wasn’t also the football senior night,” McGilvray said. 

McGilvray also perceived differences in the way her cheer coaches are seen and treated by district administrators. 

“The way they’re spoken to can be disgusting,” McGilvray said. “I can tell that they are seen as two blonde ladies waving around poms and not two strong, capable women.”

Senior cheerleader Yazmeen Bayan said that her friends follow the cheer team through its personal Instagram account but sometimes struggle to find information about competitions and events. 

“I think this is a problem … it shows that the cheer team isn’t recognized by the administration,” Bayan said. 

Bayan also said that she notices that other sports team wins are announced over the intercom, covered by the Davis Enterprise, and celebrated in the community while there is no mention of the competition cheerleading teams accomplishments. 

“It’s a simple request,” Bayan said. 

Despite some of the disrespect the cheer team felt during their season it was incredible both in results and in energy according to Reed and her cheerleaders. 

“(The) team was filled with a bunch of hard-working and amazing people this year,” Bayan said. 

This is Reed’s eighth year coaching DHS competition cheer and she said that not only did this year’s cheer athletes have an excellent connection, but they were also extremely hard-working. 

“Their commitment showed with the success they had on the mat,” Reed said. 

Reed said that the success of this team was rare and extraordinary and that she wishes there was more recognition and respect coming from the school and the public.

“It’s a really big deal,” Reed said. “It’s hard to see … nobody (mentioning) the accomplishments of these 19 athletes who did something so great.”