Over the 2023-2024 season, Newport’s cheerleading team attended PeCo Cheerleading at Newport High School, districts at Central Dauphin East, and states at the Hershey Giant Center. The team went super far, as this year was Newport’s first time back at the state level since 2022.
During the football season, the team had ten girls, the most in several years. Last year’s team had six total girls on the football field cheering on the football players. The student section was thriving this year with people dressing according to the section themes and the cheers getting the Newport Stampede riled up.
To prepare for games and competitions, the Newport cheerleaders put maximum effort into their practices. Senior Lillian Plank explained, “Practices were fun but we put in a lot of hard work.” The girls practice for three hours twice a week, which takes a considerable amount of dedication from the squad. At the end of each practice, they are exhausted. Coach Ayla Poticher states that “Practices take hard work and dedication.”
Districts for the varsity girls cheer squad went well overall, with Newport placing 6th place in the co-ed division. This bumped Newport up a place to allow the team to qualify for states at The Giant Center in Hershey.
States for Newport cheer was the girls’ best performance yet, hitting zero deductions in the routine. According to the judges panel at the state championship, the team’s jumps were “very good,” yet they stated the team’s facial expression during the routine “needs work.” These tips have the coach and team thinking for the next competition season. The cheer squad got 19th place at state out of 22 other teams.
Overall, the cheer team competed against tough opponents this season and is super excited for the upcoming 2023-2024 seasons.
