East Meadow cheerleaders are county champions

The East Meadow High School cheerleading team held on to its title of highest-ranked team in Nassau County after clinching first place, for the second consecutive year, at the Section VIII Championships at Wantagh High School on Feb. 25.

“Each year we’ve gotten stronger,” said Ashley Luna, one of the squad’s five captains and a senior at East Meadow High.

The team has gained recognition not only in the county, but also on the national level. From Feb. 8 to 13, it competed at the University Cheerleading Association’s National High School Cheerleading Championship at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla., and finished eighth in the Super Varsity Division II.

The NHSCC hosted 800 teams and 15,000 athletes who were judged based on various aspects of their cheer routines, including execution, difficulty and their ability to engage the audience. The East Meadow squad earned a near-perfect score in the latter category.

Nicole Pupo, a captain and an EMHS senior, attributed the team’s success to its unity. “We’re all dedicated, and we’re in it for each other,” Pupo said, explaining that a team could have a difficult routine, but could risk losing points if the athletes don’t work together to execute it.

Captain Rachel Majkowski said that success in cheerleading comes from working together to “find the right balance between goals and skills.” This year, the team’s goal was to maintain the same level of difficulty as in previous years, while approaching the sport with a more “competitive edge” than in previous years, Pupo said.

“We’re really happy to call this year our last,” Luna added. Of the five captains, four are seniors who began cheering together at Woodland Elementary School and plan to continue their involvement in the sport in college.

“It includes everything I like in one sport,” Pupo said, adding that cheerleading involves more than just rallying a crowd, incorporating aspects of gymnastics and dance as well.

Some of the athletes compete in other sports in addition to cheerleading, such as Captain Jillian Lucito, who is on the girls’ track team — and said that she must be careful not to get injured before a cheerleading tournament.

Asked if cheerleading is dangerous, the girls did not hesitate before nodding and saying yes. Luna explained that she has torn both of her anterior cruciate ligaments, and once went on to compete in a tournament with the injury.

“People often don’t realize that we do so much more than stand there and cheer,” Pupo said with a laugh.

The team will compete at the state championships on March 3 at Onondaga Community College in Syracuse. They will appear on ESPN and ESPN2 when the NHSCC is televised on March 31, at 11 a.m., on April 7, at 8:30 a.m., and on April 8, at 2 p.m.