Lewis cheerleading finishes fifth at Nationals
The question still remains, should cheerleading be considered a sport?
Melissa Ybarra
Issue date: 4/23/04 Section: Sports
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The highest ranked sports team at Lewis University is the cheerleading team. On March 31, the Lewis cheerleaders left school to compete in Nationals at Daytona Beach, Fla. The competition spanned over a period of two days. The first day was the prelims, which included 15 teams in the division. Out of those 15, the top eight went on to compete the next day. The following day, the top eight teams competed for the national title.
The Lewis cheerleaders came in fifth during prelims, and made it to the finals. After competing in finals they came in fifth place in the nation. Their final score was a 7.62. The two team captains are Natasha Horstmann and Jenifer Schmidgal.
The rest of the team members are: Maggie Slosar, Scott Moran, Stefanie Lebre, Genesis Hey, Jennifer Hayward, Krista Rue, Ashley Sneddon, Sarah Skibicki, Talanda Thompson, Arkita Luckett, Brandon McGhee, Katie Barney, Amundsen Brown and the mascot Steve Oria.
The Lewis cheerleaders competed at Nationals and placed, just like the men's volleyball team did. Lewis student J.J. Castellano agreed when he said, "Cheerleading is a sport because you have to prepare, practice and compete."
So why are there people out there who don't consider cheerleading a sport? Is it because there isn't a ball involved? Oh wait, that can't be it because there is no ball in wrestling and that's a sport. Maybe it's not considered a sport because they don't become soaked in sweat when they run around? But that's not true either, cheerleaders probably get sweatier that football players, they're just able to hide it better. Could it be because they don't have spectators? That definitely can't be it, because the audiences at competitions way outnumber audiences at ball games. What is it going to take to prove the world that cheerleading is a sport?
Cheerleaders who cheer on the sidelines at basketball or football games are not the cheerleaders that we are talking about. We are talking about the cheerleaders that compete against other squads. The key word is "compete," if you are competing against another team, it should be considered a sport.
The Lewis cheerleaders came in fifth during prelims, and made it to the finals. After competing in finals they came in fifth place in the nation. Their final score was a 7.62. The two team captains are Natasha Horstmann and Jenifer Schmidgal.
The rest of the team members are: Maggie Slosar, Scott Moran, Stefanie Lebre, Genesis Hey, Jennifer Hayward, Krista Rue, Ashley Sneddon, Sarah Skibicki, Talanda Thompson, Arkita Luckett, Brandon McGhee, Katie Barney, Amundsen Brown and the mascot Steve Oria.
The Lewis cheerleaders competed at Nationals and placed, just like the men's volleyball team did. Lewis student J.J. Castellano agreed when he said, "Cheerleading is a sport because you have to prepare, practice and compete."
So why are there people out there who don't consider cheerleading a sport? Is it because there isn't a ball involved? Oh wait, that can't be it because there is no ball in wrestling and that's a sport. Maybe it's not considered a sport because they don't become soaked in sweat when they run around? But that's not true either, cheerleaders probably get sweatier that football players, they're just able to hide it better. Could it be because they don't have spectators? That definitely can't be it, because the audiences at competitions way outnumber audiences at ball games. What is it going to take to prove the world that cheerleading is a sport?
Cheerleaders who cheer on the sidelines at basketball or football games are not the cheerleaders that we are talking about. We are talking about the cheerleaders that compete against other squads. The key word is "compete," if you are competing against another team, it should be considered a sport.
