The Rebel Cheerleaders competed in the MSSAA State Tournament on Sunday, March 10th. Needless to say, this competition was their most disappointing one so far this season. After absolutely nailing their performance the week prior at the South Sectional Regionals, the Rebels were looking to repeat that feeling and energy at States. Unfortunately, that was not this case this time around. The routine was not performed up to par. It was shaky, non-energetic and consisted of a few mistakes.
The Rebels placed 8th overall in Massachusetts’ Division 2 behind Dracut, Milford, Hopkinton, North Attleboro, Wilmington, Danvers, and Beverly. It was quite a disappointing finish after last seasons 4th place finish. The Rebels scored 143 points which was also their lowest score of both the fall and winter seasons. Their skill level is the same as it was at States during the fall, but the performance itself is what really lacked. Senior Captain Sam McChesney says, “Our performance at States was really boring. I’m proud that we hit our stunts but we could be much better”. Motions were sloppy, voices were quiet, tumbling passes busted, and stunts were barely kept in the air, especially in the elite stunt sequence. Surprisingly, tumbling that had been perfected all season long, did not land or was not thrown, costing the Rebels more and more points. McChesney commented “the team was not satisfied by how we performed and what we left out on the mat and it felt really disappointing.” Based on other team’s scores in the prior competition, the Rebels went into the competition expecting 5th place and were looking to score even higher. This made finishing in 8th place something the Rebels were not anticipating. McChesney says, “8th place was upsetting because we lost to teams we have been beating all season”.
Even though the Rebels did not score high enough to get another Nationals bid, they will still Travel to Orlando on March 28th because of the bid they recieved in the fall. This is the second time in school history that the Rebels have qualified for Nationals. In Winter of 2011, the varsity winter team went to Hartford, Connecticut and became National Champions. The girls are dreaming even bigger this year and would like to continue their quest to become National Champions in Orlando, Florida. The team will compete two days at the COA National Championships in Orlando, Florida at the Gaylord Palms. This will be the last competition of the season no matter how well they score or place. The girls have been holding fundraisers and receiving donations all winter long and have raised over $10,000 for the estimated $16,000 needed for the trip.
The girls and coaches have been making changes all season long and will continue to make changes untill the team boards the plane on March 28th, to ensure that the routine is the best it can possibly be to have a shot at the National Title. The Rebels have very skilled athletes to perform this very advanced routine, so the girls are looking to put their performance at States behind them and score high down in Florida. The elite partner stunts, pyramids and tumbling sections are fantastic and consist of the most skill the Rebels have ever had on the Walpole High School Cheerleading Team. McChesney says, “We’ve been working hard the past couple of weeks, we made our stunts more difficult, added tumbling, and are working on being loud and appealing to the audience”. The Rebels have high hopes for the end of the season that seemed to be much rockier and disappointing than the very successful fall season. The girls are looking forward to competing in the COA National Championships to finish the goal that they set out to reach at the beginning of the season.
