Canoga Park High Cheerleaders Score V-I-C-T-O-R-Y in International Contest

Giddy with the thrill of victory and hungry for American fast food, 13 members of the Canoga Park High School cheerleading squad arrived home Monday after winning first prize in an international competition in Japan.

“We made history,” said an exuberant Tisa Dixon, noting that Canoga Park High was the first American squad to win the co-ed cheerleading contest, sponsored jointly by the government of Japan and the city of Nagoya, where the event was held. The competition, dubbed Miss Drill Team International, takes its name from the title given the contestant judged best female cheerleader.

In two performances during the eight-day trip, Canoga Park was judged superior in its division, which also included eight teams from Canada, Japan and England, squad members said. Sixty-three high school squads from throughout Europe, Asia, North America and Australia competed in 12 divisions.

The local squad qualified for the invitational competition by winning a national contest, called Miss Drill Team USA, in which about 200 high school teams competed in Los Angeles earlier this year.

Canoga Park students who raised $900 each in travel funds participated in the international competition, said coach Carolyn Purkey. Members held a garage sale, solicited donations and attended television game shows as paid audience members.

As the teen-agers walked out the gate of Los Angeles International Airport and into a crowd of proud parents and friends, their stomachs were first on their minds.

“We want American food is what we want,” said senior John Call, one of four male cheerleaders and a lineman on the Canoga Park football team. “Hamburgers. Big Gulps.”

Miss Drill Team International is the latest in a series of competitions the Canoga Park squad has won over the past three years. The cheerleaders won the state championships in 1989 and in 1990, and placed high in the national championships for the past three years.

Purkey attributed the team’s recent success to the 1987 addition of male cheerleaders to the squad. The boys’ strength has enabled the squad to perform acrobatic stunts, she said.

Adam Ferris, senior quarterback for the Canoga Park football team and a rookie cheerleader, said the squad’s trophy collection silenced friends who mocked him for participating in a traditionally female sport.

“You get a little flak, but they start to appreciate it more and more,” said Ferris, who added that he would forsake cheerleading this fall to play football. “It’s a lot harder than you think. I’m in better shape now than I was during football season.”