The West Hempstead High School varsity cheerleading team was invited to the nationals.
The team represented the Rams while competing at the United Cheerleaders Association National High School Championship in Orlando, Florida. The competition, hosted by Disney World in ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex, was scheduled from Feb. 7 to 10.
“I’m very excited, because at the start we didn’t think that we were going to make it, and we’ve come a long way as a team,” Angie Alfaro, a senior team member, said.
To reach the nationals, teams must receive a bid, and West Hempstead had to compete at regional competitions and achieve a score high enough to qualify. West Hempstead has been invited to the national championships since 2017, but this time the girls received bids to compete with two different routines — game day and traditional.
“I’m excited that we’re able to compete with our two routines this year,” Victoria Covino, a senior, said. “We know we’ve worked so hard and we’ve come a long way as a group, so I’m really excited that we get to showcase all of our hard work and dedication that we’ve put in throughout the whole season.”
Game day routines are structured to emulate a game day experience. “How the cheerleaders are on the sidelines, they’re getting the crowd pumped up,” Kristen Lynch, the cheer team’s co-coach, explained.
The performances involve a dance to the school fight song, a school cheer, a situational cheer — for either the offense or defense — and a cheer that allows for crowd interaction.
“They look for a clean routine, lots of excitement and peppiness, almost like you’re at a football game,” Lynch said.
Traditional routines comprise cheers, stunts and dancing as well, but they are set to music instead of a fight song.
“We’re non-tumbling, which means we don’t do the flips and everything, but we do stunt,” Lynch said. “They’re looking for clean, tight motions, walking clean to your spots, complicated stunts and pyramids that hit perfectly.”
“I think the girls in both routines have a really great shot,” co-coach Kristal Hernandez said. “As long as they remain confident, and as strong as they were when we first started back in October, I think they have a great chance to go to semis, even finals.”
Co-coaches Hernandez and Lynch both cheered competitively at LIU and competed in the National Cheerleader Association College Championships. Lynch has been a cheer coach for 10 years and Hernandez for three, but it’s their first year coaching the varsity program in West Hempstead. Earlier this school year, they were named Nassau County Section 8 Class C Coaches of the Year.
Prior to this year, Lynch had attended the United Cheerleaders Association competition twice as a coach, once each with Valley Stream North and Oyster Bay.
“It’s a little bit different, because I know what to expect, what it takes to get to the next level,” she said. “Just this week, we were explaining to the team what happens when we’re there, like day-to-day, and how the score system goes, how many teams advance to semifinals and finals, and just preparing them.”
“I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished so far this season,” Lynch added. “Coming in as new coaches, for us to make it this far, we’re really, really proud, and we’re excited to see what happens when we get down there. We do have a great chance this year, so we’re really hoping we’ll make it to semifinals and hopefully finals.”
West Hempstead is competing with a twelve-member team this season, largely composed of eighth graders, freshmen and sophomores.
“I’m really grateful that we get the opportunity to go to nationals this year,” Covino said. “Coming into this season we’ve only had three returning members so it’s a great opportunity. I’m so proud of our younger girls, that we were able to get two bids to nationals this year. I think we’re gonna rock it, and I’m so proud of how far they’ve come this season.”
West Hempstead’s cheer team placed top 15 in the nation in their division for both of their routines.
Before the cheer team left for nationals, a showcase sendoff was held after school in the West Hempstead High School gym on Feb. 5. Friends, family and members of the local community were in attendance to cheer on the girls and show their support.
The event began with cheers and a dance routine performed by students from local elementary schools. The young athletes learned these routines at a youth clinic hosted by the high school’s cheerleading team in January, as part of a fundraising effort to pay for the trip to nationals.
The high school girls then performed their competition routines, loudly and proudly representing the black and gold.
