Niles West’s co-ed cheer team competed at sectionals on Saturday, Jan. 27 at Rolling Meadows High School, where they showcased their skills. They competed against 11 teams from surrounding areas including Buffalo Grove, Palatine, Niles North, Maine West, Prospect, John Hersey, Glenbrook North, Loyola Academy and Taft. The Wolves placed 10th overall. 

The team competed in categories such as stunts, jumps, tumbling, showmanship, composition, creativity and skill utilization. They achieved the highest score in their jumps and pyramids/tosses, earning a score of 82.7 out of 100 points.

“This year versus last year their stunt scores have gone up, they went up a whole level in the stunts that they’ve been performing. They’ve also been scoring higher in tumbling, pyramids are always in the 9’s, jumps are always in the 9’s,” coach Barbara Carabio said. 

The team takes pride in their collective effort throughout the year and their competitive season. 

“I thought sectionals went well. It was the best that we have done this year. I loved the encouraging words that were said before going on the mat. The adrenaline rush made me excited to compete, it was a great experience overall,” senior Hafsa Habeebuddin said. 

The team members attribute their success to their relentless drive and motivation throughout the season, refining their skills and techniques.

“Both times at sectionals we hit 0 which means we had no deductions and everything hit, and last year we scored higher and even though we hit 0 we [came in] dead last year which was disappointing. Our team is stronger than last year and we are all proud,” junior Michelle Martcheva said. 

Despite falling short of qualifying for state this year the team stays positive, as they take pride in their hard work the month leading up to sectionals. 

“We’ve kind of been prepping for sectionals as a team ever since the beginning of comp season but we’ve all really locked in the week off and it paid off on mat. Even though we didn’t make state I’m glad we all did our jobs the way we were supposed to which is all we could’ve done so there’s no reason to be upset. I’m personally so proud of everyone on the team and I think we’ve all grown so much this past month,” junior Ross Martchev said. 

As the competition season concludes, the team looks forward to leveraging their newfound skills and dedicating their off-season to refining their competition skills during the summer.