Rocket cheerleaders place second in MAC competition

Brazil Frazier, Reporter|April 13, 2022

The combined large squad of Rocket JV and Varsity cheerleaders teamed up to take second place at the MAC cheer competition held at Field Feb. 6.

The combined team of JV and Varsity and Streetsboro Rocket cheerleaders placed second at the Feb. 6 MAC competition held at Field High School. 

Capturing a moment at the competition at Field are freshmen Harmony Brown, Julia Wood, Hailey Miller, Audriana Wert, Sydney Burfield, Marissa Bair and Mia Perez.

“They stood out because they practiced hard,” said Head Coach Jackie Ogden. “They had a goal in mind: Beat the best team in the league, and every practice was taken seriously and because of their hard work. They not only beat the squad they thought was best [Norton], they proved they are the squad to beat.”

 The MAC competition involves local teams Streetsboro’s squad cheer with during the sports seasons. 

This is the first year Streetsboro’s squad has participated in this competition. Varsity and JV cheerleaders of both basketball and football seasons competed together as one large squad. 

Sophomore Milena Sobie said there were many factors such as missing people, items that were forgotten and disagreements about routines that could have brought the cheerleaders down. 

Senior Sydney Grishaber, the only senior on the squad, shows off the girls’ award alongside juniors Elizabeth Rogowski, Taylor Steines, Arai Marino and Trinity Short.

Junior Jessica Reece added, “We only knew we were doing this competition like a month ahead of time, so we only had five practices before we performed, so we had to be really productive.”

Once the cheerleaders took the floor, their hard work and dedication was brought forth and it showed to everyone in the crowd.

 During the competition, the cheerleaders experienced an environmental shift because of how differently the MAC competition operated compared to other competitions, like ones they have done at summer camp

Most of the other competitions were solely based on the judges’ opinions. The MAC competition differed from those because the judges results were based off of the reactions from the audience.

Sobie described the MAC competition as more fun and friendly compared to others she participated in.

Squads are judged based on their energy, motions and on the competitiveness of the routine.

With the help of the routines from past summer Universal Cheerleaders’ Association camps they have attended, the Rockets were able to take all of these aspects of cheers and use them to place second at the competition.

“This is the only competition other than camp that we participate in,” Ogden said, “and we will definitely participate every year.”