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NWHS cheerleaders have done it again

For the third consecutive year, Northwest Guilford High School’s cheerleaders are state champions in their division

by PATTI STOKES

NW GUILFORD – “It was a completely different experience this time,” Jennifer Loveday-Donovan, Northwest Guilford High School’s varsity cheerleading coach and head competition cheer coach, said of her cheerleaders’ third consecutive state championship win in late May. This year’s team placed first in NCHSAA’s (North Carolina High School Athletic Association) Small Varsity Non-Tumble D1 competition while scoring 86.80 points, the most points ever scored by a NWHS cheerleading team.

While the thrill of the win was equal to previous years, both preparing for the competition during the pandemic and the competition experience itself were starkly different.

“The kids had already had a terrible year because of COVID, and we struggled so much to practice… We didn’t know how to have Zoom practice or use any of those major platforms,” LovedayDonovan said. “And then when we did start practicing in-person, we couldn’t practice touching for a long time. And then finally we could tumble. And then finally we could stunt, but they had to wear masks and tape them to their faces… there were just so many obstacles. The pressure of the environment was more than just the pressure of winning.”

Traditionally, cheerleading teams travel to Raleigh to compete in the state competition each year.

“We compete, and then “you wait until the end of the night, and they call everyone up on stage and announce the winner… that part was missing this year,” LovedayDonovan said.

Instead, the cheer teams competed at Southern Alamance High School in Graham. As the teams arrived, they were taken to different checkpoints and kept socially distant from other teams.

“Fans had speci c times to arrive and you only watched your own team compete – that made it interesting, because you have no idea (of how the other teams are performing),” Loveday-Donovan said.

“And then once you compete, literally, you leave,” she said. “That was a majorly different experience and we were like, ‘okay, that was great – but now what?’”

Fortunately, one of the parents’ church allowed the girls to congregate there later in the evening and they made S’mores and “hung out together,” Loveday-Donovan said.

Then the girls went inside and did karaoke, while waiting to watch the recording of the winners being announced.

“It was definitely different,” Loveday-Donovan said. “It was nice to have the kids be relaxed for the evening, but also slightly disappointing because we didn’t get to be in the auditorium with all the other teams we competed against… To be honest, I’m probably not going to remember the announcement (that we won). I’m genuinely going to remember that they were all pretending to play instruments and singing karaoke together and having a great time.”

As for what it feels like to win a state championship for the third time, Loveday-Donovan said, “The first one was completely unexpected, and the second one was kind of like, ‘okay, if we don’t win it will be okay, but let’s go get it.’ With this one, there was a lot more pressure.

“This group of kids was the group affected the most by COVID – they didn’t get the normal part of their junior year or their senior year. They were extremely dedicated,” she said, adding, “I am blessed that we have had this evolution of our program and have so much support from our parents, our Boosters Club and our coaching staff.”