Abbey Marshall | Staff Writer
Photo contributed by Morgan Orlando
Two, four, six, eight, Mason Competition Cheer triumphed at state!
This weekend, Mason’s Competition Cheer team won second at the Ohio Athletic Conference championship in Columbus. The competition started out with a first-round performance and the top three in Mason’s division moved on to perform for a second time, according to junior Liz Baenziger.
“The first time the scores came out, we saw we were in third and we saw that the team we wanted to beat was just a couple of points ahead of us,” Baenziger said. “In between the first and second [performance], we really put our minds to it and we were really determined to increase our score so we could beat them. We came together as a team.”
The teamwork was successful, according to senior Morgan Orlando, but not enough to get the team to first place.
“The second time we competed we came back and beat every team competing in the second round, but it wasn’t enough to make up for our first score, so we ended up getting second in the overall competition,” Orlando said. “In the second round, we did outscore everybody else, we just came up too short to win first place.”
The rigorous competition at the OAC championship prepared the cheerleaders for future performances, according to Orlando.
“We definitely needed to see all these Columbus teams because it’s not just [a competition between] Centerville and Mason anymore; it’s every team in Ohio,” Orlando said. “You never know who’s going to become a big name because we started off as a no-name too. [During this competition], we went from a no-name to a big name.”
The competition from this past weekend is what will be getting the cheerleaders ready for an upcoming competition this weekend, according to Baenziger.
“At practice this week, we’ll have more motivation to get first this weekend,” Baenziger said. “We want to beat other teams like Centerville and Miamisburg again and keep doing well.”
According to Orlando, ultimately, the lesson taken away from the OAC championship was how to pull together and work as a team to achieve a goal.
“A waterfall looks powerful, but it’s made up of a bunch of little drops,” Orlando said. “You have to pay attention to that or you can’t win big competitions unless you have everyone’s mind, body, and spirit put into it.”
Abbey Marshall 