Cheer places second in gameday and third in performance at UCA
For the first time in program history the cheer team traveled to Orlando, Florida to compete at the UCA National High School Cheerleading Championship.
The team left nationals with a second place finish in the performance category and a third place finish in the gameday category. In addition, the team was also featured as Hyvee’s Team of the Week on Fox 4 Kansas City news.
According to sophomore Shiloh Wiseman the team worked hard to prepare for the competition.
“Before nationals, we spent a lot of time fixing up the minor mistakes in our routine and kept doing full outs until we felt satisfied with how it looked,” Wiseman said. “We also needed to make sure we are all in the right headspace to perform. At nationals, we made sure motion placement was right and spent some time focused on team bonding outside of practice.”
The team was very happy with their placements especially with it being their first time at this competition, senior Sydney Epperson explains how she felt in the moment placements were announced.
“We made it through prelims and semifinals for gameday, which was such a reward, and also semi-finals in performance,” Epperson said. “Hearing our name called at the top of our divisions was extremely rewarding after all of our effort.”
UCA Nationals was a completely new experience for the team, as they had only ever competed in the NCA National Championship in Texas prior to this season. Sophomore Evyn Nekola noticed the differences between the two competitions.
“I was so excited to go to Orlando because it was our team’s first time going to UCA nationals, which is way bigger than the nationals our team was familiar with,” Nekola said. “I was in shock as they revealed all of the placements, hearing all the teams we had looked throughout the season getting placed under us was such a surreal feeling.”
In her final season, Epperson is proud of the outstanding progress the team had made over the past four years.
“Being a senior during such a productive nationals season made everything so much more special,” Epperson said. “I knew it would be my last time ever competing, and I was so excited to spend it with this team. The whole weekend was full of proud moments. It was so rewarding to see how far our program has come since my freshman year.”
Silver Stars place second in gameday at NDA
After countless hours of hard work, practices and dedication, the Silver Stars dance team traveled to Orlando, Florida to compete at NDA nationals on Feb. 15 and 16.
The girls closed out their season with a second-place finish in the Small Varsity Game Day category and finalist placements in the Small Varsity Pom and Jazz divisions. In addition, they received a Superior Showmanship award for their game day performance.
Senior Ella Jones explained all of the efforts put in through months of practice that played into their big week.
“We had practices every silver morning at 6:45, Tuesdays after school for 2 and a half hours, and multiple 8 and 12 hour Saturday practices,” Jones said. “In Florida, we had a lot of parking lot practices and multiple studio practices.”
Unlike the upperclassman who had previously experienced nationals, freshman Lauren Hoestje shared how stepping onto the nationals stage for the first time came with doubt and intense pressure.
“With it being my first year, it was very unfamiliar, I didn’t know what to expect going into nationals and how everything worked,” Hoestje said. “It also felt more stressful because I had never been on the stage in front of so many people, and in general there was a lot of pressure and nerves that I had to control.”
Sophomore Maddie Lawson shared how meaningful the accomplishments were after a long season of preparation.
“Getting to nationals made us feel so proud because we put so much work in all season for that moment,” Lawson said. “I loved getting to experience that with my friends.”
As her final season comes to a close, Jones reflected on how taking her last trip to high school dance nationals affected her motivation and determination to go all out, leaving it all on the floor.
“Being a senior, this will be my last year dancing with Mill Valley,” Jones said. “Realizing that really made me cherish everything and give it my all for my last time.”
