This local cheer team just won a state championship. Now they’re planning for nationals.
Now that they’ve won a state championship, the Gig Harbor High School Tides cheer team has its sights on going to nationals next year.
The team competed in the 3A Game Day Small division of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) Cheerleading Tournament Central.
“The Game Day division is inspired by the excitement and spirit of Friday night football games and is designed to showcase cheerleading skills and routines that can be safely performed in a game-like atmosphere,” head coach Laura Nation told the Gateway Tuesday, Feb. 28.
Each team in the Game Day division preforms a band dance, situational chant, time out cheer, and fight song.
The Tides scored a record-breaking score in Tides history of 93.3 on Sat. Feb. 4, against nine other 3A schools in the state.
Their score was the second highest of the day of the 63 teams competing across all brackets in the tournament. Emerald Ridge High School scored just 1 point higher in the 4A Game Day Small division.
“We’ve never scored that high in program history,” Nation said. “They announced our name and we kinda froze to make sure it was us ... and then we lost it in a good way.”
This is the first state championship win for the Tides cheer team. They’ve been competing for almost eight years.
Auburn Riverside High School took second place with a score of 88.8, and Capital High School took third place with a score of 86.3 in the 3A Game Day Small division.
The Tides spent months perfecting their routines, on top of cheering on GHHS sports.
Practice begins in August in preparation for football season. They start working on competition routines by September.
Balancing the two can be the hardest part, Andre Stefanski, a junior on the team, told the Gateway.
“A lot of people don’t realize we practice year round for all the sports games,” Anela Terukina-Ward, sophomore and competition leader, told the Gateway. “But on top of that, we’re also working on competition routines and it can be a lot of pressure.”
Throughout the months, they critique and change the competition routine to make it as clean as they can.
The team told the Gateway that — although making changes can be stressful and challenging — this year it resulted in their favor, after years of coming close.
Last year the Tides took third place, and the year before they took second place.
“When we won second place it was like winning first, and then this year we didn’t believe it,” Nation said.
“I was just so proud in that moment when they called our name for first place,” Terukina-Ward said. “Everybody really put so much effort into the routine.”
It took them working together, communicating and trusting each other in order to get the outcome they all wanted on the mat, Terukina-Ward said.
“We knew what set us apart was our choreography and drive for each other,” Nation said.
They made sure they left an impression on the judges, Terukina-Ward said.
Their band dance routine was choreographed to “Wipe Out” by the Surfaris.
“This track has a quick, upbeat tempo that enhanced our choreography and made the routine fun to perform,” Nation said.
Part of the team played air guitar for it.
For the drum solo, the Tides used props.
“It’s a perfect opportunity to showcase our signs and flags which helped our crowd leading score,” Nation said. “With our mascot being the Tides, it felt fitting that there was a water reference tied to the routine.”
“Anyone can shake around pom poms and dance, but it takes a good team to have spirit and show it,” Lola Hawkins, a junior on the team, told the Gateway.
Not only did the Tides win a state championship this year, they were also selected as the WIAA 3A Team of the Month for January.
They were awarded with a commemorative trophy and $100 donated to their program.
The WIAA looks at all high school varsity sports teams in the state and chooses one to recognize each month based on performance, dedication in the classroom, and service to the community, according to their website.
Next year the Tides not only hope to take home another state title, but also to compete at the national level, Nation said.
Nation always told her team once they won state, they’d discuss competing at nationals. Now the conversations and planning have begun.
The Tides cheer team plans to attend USA Nationals in Anaheim, California in spring 2024.
