CHEER TEAM WINS NATIONALS

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS

The Maverick Competitive Cheerleaders traveled to Orlando, Florida, to compete in the UCA National Cheerleading Championship, and returned as National Champions in the Game-Day division. 

 "I thought about all the previous years we competed at Nationals and didn’t win, but I knew this year we had so much potential. So when they announced Southside as a National Champion, I instantly felt overwhelmed with emotion and felt this huge relief that we actually did it,” senior Mary Catherine Johnston said. 

Before attending Nationals, the Cheer team competed in three local competitions and finished in fourth place at the state competition in Hot Springs, AR. 

“There were a lot of returners this season so everyone came in with lots of experience and ready to work hard. We were super driven to win,” captain Elizabeth Loe said. 

After arriving in Orlando, the cheerleaders were able to spend multiple days at the Disney parks in between competitions.

“My favorite part of the trip was definitely being with the team and talking to each other. I also enjoyed seeing the Disney characters while waiting in the super long lines,” junior Averi Bottjen said. 

The team was able to go to parks such as Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios during their time at Disney. After competing in prelims, the Mavericks finished in first for the second year in a row. They were able to skip semifinals and advance straight to the final competition, competing against four other teams.

“I was really excited after prelims because I knew we had a routine with no mistakes, all we had to do was wait for placements. It motivated me for finals because I knew that if we could do a perfect routine once, we could do it again,” junior Coen Browning said. 

After finals, the Southside Competitive Cheerleaders finished in first and were announced as the Game Day Division National Champions.

The Mavericks finished with a score of 98.00/100.00, being the highest scoring team at the National Competition. Returning to school on Feb. 14, the cheerleaders were welcomed by a walk through celebration surrounded by all the students.

“The highlight of my trip to Disney was getting to share various memories with such a special group of people. There was so much happiness that filtered through each one of us, that kept on going stronger as the days went on,” junior Annabelle Lovett said. “We were all very thankful to be there, and instead of being nervous, we were all beyond excited to compete. I think overall that was the big factor, is that, unlike any other year, we were just genuinely excited, there was nothing else to it. We all wanted that National Champion title more than ever before, and I just loved being surrounded by people who wanted to grow as a team, and also as individuals.”