Middle School Wins Gold at Junior National Cheer Championships

The cheer team from Hart Middle School brought home a first place win from the 2013 Junior National Cheer Championships on March 3.

Tricia Fenton, mother of one of the cheer team members, says the team of 18 girls have competed at the championships before but have never won first place.

"Four Pleasanton teams made it to the finals," said Fenton. "It is really a team sport. If one person doesn't make it during a stunt, the whole thing falls apart."

According to Coach Nancy Jefferies, the team was put into a medium-sized category against 12 other teams, including Pleasanton Middle and Harvest Park Middle Schools. 

"We were the smallest team with 18, competing against teams with as many as 24 girls," Jefferies said. "Only the top four teams would move on to perform in finals. I told the girls, 'No complaining. It's go big, or go home'."

Jefferies has been the head cheer coach at Hart for five years, in addition to helping the team for two other years prior. Jefferies added that for the past three years, the team has hired a choreographer, Chris York, from California Spirit in Dublin.

Jefferies wrote, via email:

Junior Nationals is held at the Disneyland Resort. We performed inside California Adventure at the Hyperion Theater. After a full day of enjoying Disneyland with their families on Saturday, the girls had to switch gears and be ready to perform on Sunday, March 3.  We performed second to last. Our first performance was good, not great. We had some bobbles, probably nerves. The first awards ceremony was nerve wracking.  They announced all teams that competed and then announced placements, starting with 13th place.  With each place called, my girls had their heads down hoping and praying they would not hear "Hart Middle."  When fifth placed was announced, and it was not us, they girls screamed.  It was the best news!! Our crowd of family and friends could be heard above all others.  We had an awesome cheering section.  The top four teams were Hart, Willow Glen from San Jose, St. Mary's from Southern California, and Desert Mountain from Arizona.

We met back at the hotel and went over score sheets and talked about how to improve for our performance in finals.  The judges gave great feedback that we were able to use.  We all headed back to California Adventure for our final performance.  We performed last.  I gave the girls one last pep talk before going on stage.  They were confident and calm.  They knew they could do well and wanted it bad.  One of my girls replied to me saying, "Don't worry coach, we got this!"  Boy, did they!  They saved their best performance for last, peaking at just the right time.  They hit an almost flawless routine. 

Waiting for awards was painful.  When it was time, we were escorted on stage with the three other teams.  I could hear our cheering section!!  They announced fourth place went to St. Mary's, 3rd place, Desert Mountain.  When they announced second place, the announcer took a little pause and I was sure I would hear "Hart".  Afterall, we had been so close the past two years.  When we heard Willow Glen, the reigning champs, announced as 2nd place, the girls screamed.  I was in shock!  We all hugged and some of us cried.  I had to tell them to get up so that they could receive their trophy and championship banner.  They were all still hugging on the floor.  We were all in shock!  It was an unforgettable experience.

The last seven years we have placed, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 3rd, 2nd, 2nd, and finally took 1st this year. 

I still can't get over our final scores!  Every judge gave us at least a 90.  We had a 91.4 average.  It's the highest score I've ever seen in all my years at Hart!  It was well deserved.  The Hart Cheer gave it their all!

This was my last year coaching Hart.  I am moving onto coach at Foothill.  I have loved coaching my girls at Hart. I always get asked how I like working with the girls, do I have to deal with attitudes or drama.  The answer is no.  They are very respectful and fun to be around. What's great is that I still get to see them at Foothill.  

The team took a traditional photo at the top of the "Tower of Terror" ride after the competition.

"For the past few years, I've made it a tradition to go on 'Tower of Terror' as a team when we were all done competing," said Jefferies. "This year was no exception. This time even our families went on. We filled 2 'Tower of Terror' elevators! It was the best night."