Canoga High Team Takes 1st Place in Regional Cheerleading Contest

Continuing to build on a winning tradition, the Canoga Park High School cheerleading squad over the weekend beat 35 Southern California teams and qualified to compete in national championships next year.

The 16-member co-ed squad won first place Saturday in a regional cheerleading competition at Loyola Marymount University, defeating high school teams from Santa Barbara to San Diego. The victory qualifies the Canoga Park team to compete at the national cheerleading championships in February in Orlando, Fla.

Although the team has competed--and placed high--at national competitions for the last three years, this will be the first time that it has gone as the regional winner. Other times, it was invited as an at-large competitor, coach Carolyn Purkey said.

Team members said Sunday that months of grueling training--sometimes as much as 20 hours a week--paid off.

“Once you get out there and perform it’s all worth it,” freshman Audrey McCarren said.

But now comes the hard part--raising about $20,000 that the team will need to go to Florida. Team members are no strangers to fund raising. From the $75 Nike Air shoes they wear to the $900 each it cost to compete in Japan last summer, the team supports itself by holding rummage sales, soliciting donations and attending game shows as paid audience members, Purkey said.

In August, the team became the first American squad to win an international cheerleading competition in Japan. In two performances during the eight-day trip, Canoga Park was judged superior in its division, which included eight teams from Canada, Japan and England. A total of 63 teams from throughout Europe, Asia, North America and Australia competed in 12 divisions at the Miss Drill Team International event.

The cheerleaders also won state championships in 1989 and 1990.

Team members attributed part of the squad’s recent success to the addition of male cheerleaders in 1987. Many of the eight males on the team said they also compete in school sports and must find time to squeeze in cheerleading practice between other athletic activities.

Junior varsity quarterback Adam Ferris dismissed the notion that cheerleading is for sissies, saying he gets a better workout during squad practice than during football season.

“It’s harder than it looks,” he said.