Costa Mesa, Marina cheerleading teams earn CIF Southern Section titles

The popular cheer goes, “Two, four, six, eight, who do we appreciate?”

It may have been the third in a row, but winning a CIF Southern Section championship is always something to be appreciated by the Costa Mesa High cheerleading team.

Meanwhile, Marina made school history by bringing home its first CIF crown.

The Mustangs and Vikings were the big local winners at the CIF Southern Section Cheerleading Championships, conducted Saturday at Martin Luther King High in Riverside.

Costa Mesa won the title in the Division 4 co-ed division, while Marina was victorious in Division 4AA.

Costa Mesa has won titles in each year since cheerleading debuted as a CIF sport in 2018-19. The CIF championships were not held last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Senior team captains Kyra Johnson, Emily Tsuge, Emiko Grun, Lola Brough, Julissa Garibay and Aleah Doone helped lead Costa Mesa to victory.

“Our division was the largest division, which put a little bit of extra stress on us,” Costa Mesa coach Kori Johnson said. “We were confident, but reserved about it, because we had graduated out a very strong senior class. We went with a larger team this year, so we were a little bit nervous. There’s a lot of pressure when you’re back-to-back CIF champions, a lot of people wanting to uncrown you, so to speak.”

Marina had come close before, but earned a pair of runner-up finishes. To finally take first place was meaningful, longtime coach Vraunwyn Denny said.

Senior captains Megan Lane, Maddie Montgomery, Alena Uhamaka and Ciara Hughes helped lead the Vikings to victory. Riley Betts, Rachael Dankin, Kelly Bello and Carly Bauer are the other seniors on the team.

“The kids are ecstatic,” Denny said. “They’re the first ones to bring home that CIF title. They get the banner in the gym, and they couldn’t be more excited, to be honest. It’s really nice for me, being there for so long, to truly be acknowledged in that way. Other sports have banners up, and we still don’t have a banner up, so it’s nice that we’re actually getting that to happen for us.”

With the schedule impacted due to the pandemic, both Costa Mesa and Marina have another big competition this weekend. They’re traveling to Florida for the Universal Cheerleaders Assn. High School Nationals.

Both Costa Mesa and Marina won national titles last spring.

“It’s a very stressful week ... [but] we’re feeling very confident going into Florida,” Johnson said.

The Newport Harbor cheerleading team earned a runner-up finish in Division 2AA at the CIF Southern Section championships, while Edison placed seventh. Fountain Valley was the fifth-place finisher in Division 2A, followed by Huntington Beach in sixth.

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