UHS hosts its first regional USA cheer competition

By CHRISTIAN ZARAGOZA
Staff Writer
On January 24, University High School (UHS) hosted the United Spirit Association (USA) Spirit Regional competition on UHS’s campus.
USA holds professional cheer competitions in which cheer sequences are performed in front of its qualified judges, who in return provide commentary and constructive criticism to the teams.
When asked about the constructive comments from the judges, Nina Groleau (So.) said that “the judges’ comments were very helpful and they helped our team to better understand how we can improve.”
These judges were chosen from various competitions and schools.
USA states that it is “proud of the professional, knowledgeable, and fair judges who represent USA at our competition events.”
UHS Cheer and Song not only hosted but also participated in the USA Spirit Regional.
It required much extra work for members to come prepared to both perform their sequences and host a large event.
However, Jasmine Bryant (So.) said, “It was a great experience to host an event as well as perform a routine that we had been practicing so hard for.”
This event was the first time UHS Cheer and Song had hosted a large scale regional tournament.
UHS teams performed very well on their home turf.
The Junior Varsity cheer team placed 3rd in its division and the Varsity cheer team placed 5th in its division.
The Varsity song team narrowly missed the win in its division, placing 2nd.
Serena Wu (So.) said “It was a fun competition despite the fact that we did not win. It was a good learning experience for my team and I and we are working hard so that we do well at Nationals.”
UHS’s teams hope to place even higher than they did at Regionals and to possibly win first place at Nationals.