Last weekend, Dec. 8^th, the New Berlin West Varsity Cheerleaders had their first competition at Oak Creek High School for the Oak Creek “Knights” competition. The girls came in with high hopes, having very productive practices leading up to the competition.

The warm up mats were set up, and the girls were ready to practice before show time. For each mat, the cheerleaders had five minutes, three mats total. The mats were wrestling mats which the Vikings are not accustomed to using, but they made do. All stunts hit in warm-ups. The last mat is used to mark your routine. When the Vikings finished their warm up on the last mat with about two minutes to spare, they were feeling pretty confident.

As the girls waited to preform, the nerves started to kick in. Head coach Meredith Sweeney reassured the girls. “You got this ladies!” said assistant coach Samantha Miller. The girls hear their name called to preform next. Game faces on, it was time. The Vikings were the last team in their division to preform too, and they killed it! Stunts went smoothly, jumps were together, and it was overall quite impressive.

Going into awards was stressful for the team. While others jump around, dance, and play games, the girls just sit in their circle. Nerves were among them and the team honestly didn’t know how it would come out. They were pretty confident though, seeing that the routine was the best one they’d done. They got to West’s division, Varsity Small. The girls crossed arms, held hands, and bowed their heads, anxious to hear the results. “Second place… New Berlin West Varsity.” Heartbreak started to set in. Everyone tried to fake a smile, but you could tell the girls were not excited about their placement.

Oconomowoc beat the Vikings by no more than 2 points. After an upsetting defeat, the Vikings left Oak Creek High School sad and disappointed. Next time they compete with Oconomowoc, the Vikings will be ready to overcome.