By: Hannah Bolandian ’19

The Staples cheerleaders flipped, jumped and cheered their way to second place in the FCIAC competition on Feb. 3 in the Wilton High School gym.

While the rankings were close, Staples fell to Stamford High School in the co-ed division due to a safety deduction. The overall grand champions were the Danbury High School cheerleaders. “I am upset [with the results] because of the unfortunate circumstances, but also really optimistic for our upcoming competitions,” Emily Putman ’19 said.

The cheerleading team now competes in the co-ed division as opposed to all girls like they have done in the past. They are joined by male cheerleaders Louis Pinto ’19 and Odin Bartie ’19. With the help of all the members of the team, the cheerleading team has taken a turn in their training which resulted in them being the only team in their division to not fall.

Although the results may not have been what they were hoping for, the cheerleaders worked together to perform a routine that scored the best out of the all the co-ed teams.

“A main reason we are a cohesive group is because we’re all hard workers and [are] motivated by the same thing, which is winning and being proud of ourselves,” Remy Teltser ’21 said.

So far this year, the cheerleading team has had one of their best seasons with winning first place in two out of their three competitions prior to FCIACs. This was accomplished through regular practices and new coaching. “Preparing [for the competition] was intense,” Teltser said. “We had the same practices we usually do, but everyone was super motivated to work harder since it was our biggest competition yet.”

With three more competitions to go in the season, the cheerleaders will continue their regular practices and working towards perfecting their routine to reclaim their first place spot. “We’ve been working hard for so long,” Lili Tucker ’19 said. “I think we’ll be able to bounce back from this for the rest of our competitions.”