PV squad advances to states
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES NEWS The Pleasant Valley Varsity Cheerleaders display their second place District XI Championship medals. They are front row, from left: Captain Abby Roselli, junior, Captain Allison Charles, Captain Mackenzie Hammond, Captain Jessica Anewalt, all seniors; second row: juniors Calli-Ann Linares, Jayda Toledo, Bryana Mitchell, Megan Dahlstrom; third row: sophomores Laurissa Smith, Yssence Andino, Haley Toth and Paris Barton, and coach Tracy Toth; and back row, freshmen, Elena Nuzzo, Shaina Baylo, Mariah Haney, Natalie Smith, Aubrey Scott, Jaidyn Borre, Alexa DeLuzio and Kelsey Diabo.
Pleasant Valley has a lot to cheer about. The district's varsity cheerleading squad placed second in the District XI Competitive Spirit Championships, Medium Varsity Division (16-20 girls on a team) on Saturday, Jan. 11.
The competition was held at the Easton Area Middle School.
The girls are very excited because it means the squad will advance to states on Friday, Jan. 24 and Saturday, Jan. 25 at the Giant Center in Hershey. They will be competing against 42 other squads.
According to the squad's coach, Tracy Toth, all squads compete in the preliminaries on Friday. Only the top 25 percent of the Medium Division competitors advance to the finals which are on Saturday afternoon.
The next 25 percent advance to the semifinals on Saturday morning, and the winner of the semifinals gets to move on and compete in the finals that afternoon.
"We hope to have a clean performance and hit our routine. We are thankful for this opportunity as we missed going to states last season," says Toth.
"We hope to learn from the experience, grow as a squad, make some great memories, and come back even stronger next year," she adds.
This is the first year with two new coaches, Toth, and assistant/JV coach Jessica Holmes. The JV squad, coached by Holmes, will also compete in February.
Toth says that there have been many changes to the cheer program.
The cheerleading seasons have gone from having separate squads for football, basketball and wrestling, to just one squad cheering for all three sports, all year long.
The cheerleaders attended stunting clinics, enrolled in tumbling classes.
Their routine was choreographed with professional competition music, and there is more conditioning and strengthening exercises during practice.
"The squad has overcome many injuries this season from sprained ankle, wrist, Achilles, torn shoulder, fractured knee and foot surgery. This has delayed their practices of having a full participation and practices. They surprised me at how quickly they bounced back from their injuries," says Toth.
"They encouraged each other when it was time to return from injuries. But they worked hard, never gave up or stopped believing in themselves," adds Toth.
The PV varsity squad consists of 20 girls three seniors, five juniors, four sophomores and eight freshmen.
"They are a young squad and a talented squad. I always knew that they would be a competitive squad at competitions," says Toth.
"The girls have worked very hard and are very very good. I'm very proud of them," said John Gress, PVHS principal.
