Hard
work • The Cal State
Long Beach Cheer Squad performs its
stunts for crowds at Week of Welcome.
The squad brought home its fifth national
championship Feb. 6. Erika Jones /
Online Forty-Niner
Cheer
team tumbles to national title
By
Karla Casillas
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
Hours of practice, dedication and years of experience led the Cal State Long
Beach Co-Ed Cheer squad to the No. 1 spot at the United Spirit Association
Collegiate Nationals in Las Vegas on Feb. 6.
The squad performed a 2.5-minute routine filled with advanced tumbling and
stunts. Using a Halloween, the movie, theme accompanied with music from Rob
Zombie, Michael Jackson and Marilyn Manson, the squad stood out from the rest.
It was something that separated them from the pack, said Head Coach Eric Anderson
who choreographed the routine.
“
It was different and catchy,” he said.
According to Anderson the squad is always doing something different and its
tumbling stands out. At competitions the squad tumbles more than any other
and the tumbling “is more advanced than anyone else,” Anderson
said.
“ We’re all around better,” said squad member Travis Ledbetter.
He said the squad was at a whole other level from the other competing squads.
The squad’s tumbling and harder stunts set it apart from the rest, Ledbetter
said.
“ We
had a clean routine but we also added
a lot to it. It definitely wasn’t
boring,” said Cheer Captain Katherine
Covollone.
“
Part of the routine has a song from Marilyn Manson where we didn’t
just dance. We yelled with it and got the crowd on their feet. We really
brought down the house,” she said.
Most of the squad has at least five years cheerleading experience and there
is a huge population that come from all-star teams and that have cheered since
they were little, Anderson said. This is the squad’s fifth national championship
title.
The 35-member co-ed squad competed under the small, co-ed show cheer-4 year
schools division. They competed against 11 teams in the preliminary competition
and went out to compete against four other schools at the finals. They beat
second place Idaho State University, third place Mesa State College in Colorado,
UC Davis and Cal State San Bernardino.
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