The cheer team won third place at the NorCal Championships at UC Davis today, February 6. The team placed in the Varsity Show Cheer Novice division against eight other teams including Irvington (the team that they had challenged and beaten in previous competitions).

In its last three competitions, the cheer team has placed first. However, this time the team had to perform without one cheerleader, who had gotten sick. The change meant that the team had to change stunting and formation. Also, because general competition was tougher, the judges were less forgiving when one of its stunts didn’t go up, causing the cheer team to lose its grasp on first.

“Everything else we did really well … but it was too late to recover,” cheer team member sophomore Cathy Liu said.

The other teams, Notre Dame and Irvington, took first and second place, respectively. The team plans to change their practice routine to include more difficult stunts.

“We will work harder. I know we can beat Irvington because we have before,” cheer team member sophomore Michelle Deng said.

Meanwhile, the team continues to fundraise to pay for airplane tickets to nationals. They will hold a special fundraiser on March 13, where students who plan on trying out for Cheer next year can pay $10 to be taught stunting and tumbling by the current team. The team will also continue with their fundraising by selling cupcakes every Wednesday.

“[Nationals] is going to be tough but we can push through,” Cathy said. “Ever since we beat Washington, who won nationals last year, everyone knows we can take first at nationals this year.”