By Russell Omo
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Earning their sixth national title and ending their season with a grand victory, the MHS varsity and JV cheerleading squads ranked first and second place within their divisions in the Jamz All-Star National Championships held at the Orleans Hotel in Las Vegas on the weekend of Feb. 8 to 10. This was no easy feat for either of the groups, for they had to deal with the stresses of competition and fierce competitors.
“Right before they went on (the girls) pulled it all together as a team and showed how (MHS) cheers and represented Hawaii to their fullest and everybody loved it, especially the audience,” said head cheerleading coach Renesha Kiersedt.
The JV squad were placed in the JV Level One Small division, but were met with teams who performed much more technical routines than expected. “Now those teams were actually doing varsity level stuff but just at, as we call it, a lower height level. So basically our JV was competing with most of the varsity, but they beat some teams out so that was outstanding,” explained Kierstedt.
The varsity squad faced a much different obstacle. “The varsity team, I have to say, when we got to Vegas, they were kind of not ready, mentally and physically. Mentally because we only had one day before we go (to the competition). Physically: time change, weather change, their appetites, they didn’t even sleep,” commented Kierstedt. Despite these challanges ,the varsity squad ended winning first place for both of their divisions, Varsity Co-ed Show Cheer Level Two and High School Sideline Performance Cheer.
Although faced with such adverse conditions, the cheerleaders themselves found themselves in a state of joy in the aftermath. “Before competing, I was super, super nervous. You know how like you’re on a rollercoaster and you’re really nervous? But once you’re going up and doing it, then after the rollercoaster you had fun and want to do it again,” expressed varsity Sophomore Jalene Alviar. Varsity Sophomore Christopher Boullion added,” I thought back to all our practices and the injuries and it was all worth it in the end.”
Winning the Jamz Nationals and obtaining their sixth national title was a milestone that the team would keep after their high school career. “I know each one of my athletes, they like to be able to have a title so when they graduate they could always look back saying, ‘I did that, I contributed to that’,” said Kierstedt.
The Jamz All-Star National Championships was the last competition for the cheerleaders this year with try outs beginning in March.
