Mia Leon-Carpenter is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Mesquite High School for AZPreps365.com

The cheerleaders of Mesquite High School nearly swept the competition at the Desert Kick Off showcase Oct. 29 at Hamilton High School in Chandler.

The Lady Wildcats competed in three categories at the showcase competition: game day, all-girl stunt and show cheer. The 16-girl team won first place in the game day and all-girl stunt categories, and came in third place to Chaparral and Hamilton for their show cheer routine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wildcats performed a sideline cheer and their fight song in the first-place winning, game day routine. (Photo by Mia Leon-Carpenter/AZPreps365)

“It couldn’t have been better,” assistant coach Mia Franz said. “We thought we were gonna' get fifth for show cheer, so third with two advanced teams … they’re proud of themselves, and they love each other, no matter what went wrong, that's all that matters.”

Winning was no easy feat for this team. The Lady Wildcats have overcome adversity since their tryouts in March.

From injuries, to grades, to dedication and motivation, the team has dealt with a rotating door of athletes. This year, fifth-year head coach Taryn Pollock decided to scrap the original vision of a large team and re-imagine it to a smaller, more elite model.

“That’s the program we designed, is to be able to get to a space where if people have stepped in, stepped out, we could overcome that,” Pollock said. “In the years past while building this program, we had everybody on the floor, we needed every single person. So when somebody got hurt, it was catastrophic for us.

“It's an exciting place to be in, the fact that we have alternates, and we can adjust to all the challenges.”

The coaches made major cuts this year with the intention of holding their team to a level of elite status, along with the motivation to bring maximum effort into everything. In this competition, select girls from the junior varsity and varsity squads were combined.

There was no way to distinguish between the two squads, as they performed with incredible chemistry. Throughout all three routines, there was only one fall in the all-girl stunt.

Cami Nickeson, a captain and senior on the team, said that for the first time, the team did well on staying calm and collected throughout the day.

“Usually, they get really stressed out and they rush everything,” Nickeson said. “But, I think they really just took their time, and executed everything that they needed to do.”

Freshman Cheyenne Rush said that Mesquite’s key to success is their bond.

“We went into this, and everyone was hugging each other, and saying ‘we got this, we’re gonna do good,, and I really believe that’s what makes us different,” Rush said. “Over here, it’s all about the team.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The team erupts into cheers as they are announced as the first-place winners in the game day category. (Photo by Mia Leon-Carpenter/AZPreps365)

The team hopes to take the judges’ critiques from this showcase competition and apply them going forward. The Lady Wildcats take the floor next at the USA Arizona Regional competition on Nov. 19 at Estrella Foothills High School.

“There’s a whole list on my phone already of what went wrong,” Franz said. “Where we’re at is the perfect place. Even though there’s things that need to be critiqued, skills that need to be advanced, it’ll get where we need to get by the time we need it to be there.”