Golden Eagles squad beats the odds at the Nationals

May 06, 2010

Sydenham’s Golden Eagles squad take second place at the Nationals. Photo courtesy of Miranda Roy

After placing first in their division in mid-February the Sydenham Golden Eagles competitive co-ed cheerleading team placed second at the Nationals, which were held at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga this past weekend. The team competed against seven teams in the intermediate division from all over Canada. 

The Eagles put on a tremendous performance, finishing just 2 points (out of 800) behind the first-place winners, Eden High School from Hamilton. Seeing that of the 26-member team only one is an actual gymnast, they chose to focus on technical difficulty. Head coach Jenn Mizerovsky said, “We took a big chance and focused on big precision stunts like pyramids and tosses and it ended up paying off.”

In the preliminary round, worth 40% of their score, the Eagles finished in second place with a score of 280.5, just 1.5 points behind the first-place team. They incurred a small deduction in an otherwise clean performance.

In the second round, worth 60% of their final score, they scored 287.7, just 0.7 points behind the leading team.

The team’s second-place finish was even more remarkable given that they lost seven members leading up to the competition, and were forced to make a number of last-minute changes to their routine just weeks before the event.

Jenn Mizerovsky said, “We were feeling pretty nervous going in and though we were still shooting for a top spot we all knew that it could either turn out very well or really badly.”

Grade 10 student and team member Katrina Roy spoke to me by phone after the win and said, “We’re all so proud. We practiced so hard for this and it all came together in the end.”

The team also took the award for most creative use of music, beating out the 150 teams that participated.

The coach credited the team for their drive and determination and said, “They did an outstanding job, and with so little time to prepare they performed with confidence and precision and also managed to keep smiling the entire way through.”