By Susan Misur
Special to the Voice
The West Haven High School cheerleaders are again heading to Orlando, Florida, for a national competition in February, having won first place in two divisions at a regional championship last month.
Though they will be up against some tough contenders, they remain as determined as ever, hoping that this year, they will be the ones to sport the event’s coveted white jackets.
“Each year, the winners of nationals get white jackets. And each year we see other teams wearing them, and we keep saying, ‘That’s going to be us one year,’” says senior Oriana Orsini, a WHHS cheer co-captain with fellow seniors Jenna Perno, Giovanna Frater and Taylor McCray and junior Leatrice Alston.
The talented WHHS team won first place in both the Game Day division and Medium Varsity Non-Tumbling division at the Dec. 13 Universal Cheerleaders Association Empire Regionals at Stony Brook University in New York and was honored by Mayor Edward M. O’Brien at City Hall Dec. 26, with each member receiving an official citation for the team’s achievement.
Their victories earned the squad a bid to the UCA National High School Cheerleading Championship at Walt Disney World Feb. 7-8. The varsity and junior varsity squads, composed of 14 girls each, will both compete. At last year’s national tournament, the Westies placed 12th in the nation in the Medium Varsity Non-Tumbling division and fifth in the Game Day division.
“This season should be their season to win because they did so well with their scores at regionals,” Coach Angie Alston said. “I have a strong feeling they’re going to do very well in Orlando. They’ve always been a talented team, but they’ve come very far and have challenged themselves.”
The team has formed such a tight bond because most members have cheered together for a decade, first starting with the Pop Warner Seahawks youth cheerleading team and then joining the WHHS squad. After spending so many years together, the girls aren’t afraid to be honest with each other when it comes to brainstorming ideas for the team and know how to showcase each other’s strengths and talents.
“They won’t settle for the level they’re at and always want to move forward. They yell at me if I try to downgrade something. They’re determined to master whatever I put in front of them,” Alston added.
Despite cheering for multiple WHHS sports teams and performing in several competitions over the course of the year, the team continues to make its work in the community a priority. Earlier this year, the girls collected food—for both people and pets—for a donation to WHEAT, and will again host the Blue Devils Victory Crusades, a Jan. 24 cheer competition honoring Casey Ridgway, a former Bailey Middle School student who passed away in 2013 after a battle with cancer and previously was part of the West Haven Pop Warner Seahawks cheerleading team.
And in between all that, the team must make time for plenty of practice to get ready for nationals.
“We’re proud to be representing West Haven on the national level,” Perno said. “We’re more excited than nervous, but as seniors, it’s our last one, so we’ve got to do it big.”