SAN JOSE—The Aptos High competition cheer team made a name for itself this past weekend at the Central Coast Section Championships at Independence High School.
Team captains Jessika Parra and Gwen Parry along with the rest of the Mariners’ cheer squad captured the Show Cheer Novice, Non-Tumbling Division title with a win over Andrew Hill School of San Jose in the finals on March 5.
Alex Monroy, Gemma Flores, Callie Wiesner, Katie Gieseke, Josie Tapiz, Corey Rego and Tatiana Brantley all helped the Mariners tally a winning score of 88.2.
Parry, a sophomore, said there was no real strategy going into the competition besides putting on the best performance possible for the judges.
“There’s nothing you can do except try to fake it until you make it,” she said. “Even if you don’t know what you’re doing, you still have to pretend like you do know what you’re doing.”
Parra, a sophomore said it wasn’t as if they weren’t familiar with the moves, but it was more about knowing when to hit them at the right time. She also mentioned that competition cheer is on a different level versus trying to get the crowd engaged in a game.
“You have to prepare a routine that you need to hit,” she said.
During the CCS competition, the teams had 2 minutes and 30 seconds to perfect their routines and they didn’t get a second chance to perform.
Aptos coach Chelsea Riotutar said this was the highest level of competition that she’s been a part of in six years of coaching cheer.
“To win so high my first year in my highest level, there’s no words to explain it,” she said.
The CCS Traditional Competitive Cheer Tournament hosted the inaugural championship with five divisions: Novice, Novice Coed, Novice Non-Tumbling, Novice Non-Tumbling Coed and Intermediate.
Monte Vista Christian competed in the Intermediate Division against Leland High.
Parry and Parra both mentioned that practices leading up to the competition were time-consuming and taxing on them. They trained five to six days a week for two hours at a time.
“Girls were getting sick,” Parry said. “It was really stressful trying to fill in the spots and readjusting the routine hours before we had to go on.”
The competitive season technically begins in December but the Mariners’ cheer team was practicing reps during football games in the fall season.
Parry is new to cheerleading and she said the experience was difficult because it was her first time competing for any team sport.
She mentioned that the halftime performances were especially stressful since there were some cheerleaders, including herself, still learning the routines.
“We never had team bonding with the whole sideline team, so that was kind of our issue,” she said. “We didn’t work together as a team as well as we did for the competition team.”
Parra said at that point they were new to each other and working out some kinks. She added that it wasn’t until after the first competition that they truly started to click.
“A lot of it was just bonding, getting to know each other,” she said. “Once we did that everything was working really smoothly.”
Parra said there have been instances this season, and in years past, where she blacks out and continues with the motions, just hoping for the best.
“There’s certain points in the routines where you make eye contact with somebody else and you’re like, ‘OK, we got this, we can keep going,’” she said.
Riotutar said the number one thing she sees is the energy produced by the team.
“Once a girl feels another girl’s energy, it just goes around in circles while they perform,” she said.
Riotutar said there are plenty of expectations from previous cheerleaders and cheer moms. She mentioned that the way a new coach runs things won’t be the same way the previous coaches did in the past.
“I think that was the biggest challenge, that huge change for a lot of parents and for the girls, too,” she said.
Riotutar said there was some skepticism about what her capabilities were as a coach. Parra admits the team didn’t get along very well with their new coach prior to the season.
“But as time went on we really bonded with her and we had a good connection,” Parra said.
Other highlights from the season include a seventh-place finish with a score of 81.2 at the High School Spirit Nationals in Anaheim. Prior to that, they qualified via the USA Northern California Regional II.
“That was super fun,” Parra said. “We got to stay in a hotel with all of our other girls there. We got to see a bunch of teams and went up against 12.”
Parry said they were aiming for a top-four finish to advance to the next day of competition. Still, they were content considering it was their first time performing on a bigger stage.
Riotutar said her goal for the program is to teach the girls what teamwork and support mean. Not just from the coaching staff but from their teammates, as well.
She also wants athletes to learn how to build communication skills and become more confident in themselves.
“It’s on them to learn how to tell their parents I have practice tonight or we’re doing this competition, this is what I need,” Riotutar said.
Parra said she believes they made a name for themselves and put Aptos on the map when it comes to competitive cheer. One of their goals is to have a bigger roster and win more titles.
“I think moving forward we know we can achieve more and we can only go up from here,” she said.
