SANTA ANA : Something to Cheer About at Mater Dei

Aspiring athletes have been known to make their choice of high schools based on the strength of schools’ basketball or football teams. But cheerleading?

That’s the case at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, considered to be one of nation’s cheerleading powerhouses. The school’s 20-member varsity cheer squad took first place among 31 teams in the National Cheerleaders Assn. championships in Dallas last week.

The win was the latest in a string of victories for the Monarchs of Mater Dei, a Catholic school with an enrollment of 2,100 students.

“I came to this school to cheer,” said Julie Canzone of Cypress, who is the squad’s co-captain. Like many of her teammates, 17-year-old Canzone started doing flips and stunts in elementary and junior high school.

The varsity squad, under the direction of John Merino since 1960, has won three straight United Spirit Assn. national competitions since 1990, and won the national title in the Universal Cheerleaders Assn. competition--in Orlando, Fla.--in 1987 and 1988.

The team members--15 girls and five boys--said they are athletes. Merino said that in his 34 years as adviser, cheerleading has changed into a stage where strong gymnasts perform precise routines.

Several of the squad’s male members said classmates sometimes tease them because they are cheerleaders. It’s harder than it looks, they respond.

“When I first got on the team, I’d sit with guys and they’d say, ‘Oh, I’m having lunch with a cheerleader,’ ” said co-captain Scott Gabster, 18, of Fountain Valley. Despite the teasing, Gabster thinks cheerleading is a good way to keep up his gymnastics skills, which he has honed for more than eight years.

Another co-ed team from Santa Ana--Century High School’s squad--recently won the Universal Cheerleading Assn. regional competition, beating four other Southern California teams. That team seeks donations so it can compete in the national finals in Orlando in February, school officials said.

This is the second straight year that the team placed first in the region, Century’s pep squad adviser Judy Kooi said. She said that the 10 boys and nine girls on the squad will hold fund-raisers to help defray the $20,000 cost of the trip.

Donations may be sent to: Century Cheer Boosters, Century High School, 1401 S. Grand Ave., Santa Ana, Calif. 92707.