Cheer placed second in the Marine-Western League Championship March 25, an improvement over its fifth place finish in 2020.
The team also placed second the first year of the competition in 2018, the year the competition started. 

Even though the team did not have a lot of practice on mats to practice their routine, according to coach Joanna Trocan-Garrett, the Gondos still succeeded.

Mats make it much easier for the team to practice routines, since they have lines and panels which help cheerleaders position themselves. For most of the season, cheer practiced on grass.

“Our mats were delivered on Friday in the morning, when the competition happened,” Trocan-Garrett said. “At lunch, we were literally practicing on mats for the first time ever.”

Senior Renee Shortt, a captain, said that the team did not have a lot of time to practice because they had to cheer for the basketball team when their season was happening.

“Once basketball season was over, we were able to focus on our routine and slowly build it up until it was done,” Shortt said. “Then when it was finished, we kept going over it until we were able to confidently perform the routine.”

Given the circumstances, Shortt is proud about how the team did. 

“Honestly, with the amount of time that we had and the work we put in, I don’t think there was much we could have done better,” Shortt said.  

San Pedro High took first place at the Marine-Western Championship. Venice High’s team has gone head-to-head against San Pedro in the past, too.

“Their cheer program is very good, and they actually had a fall in their routine,” Trocan said. “The only reason that they won was because they were doing a harder routine compared to ours.

“The only way we could’ve beaten San Pedro is to increase the difficulty and sharpness of our routine. And that wasn’t something realistic we could’ve done for our first event.”

Venice High’s Cheer Team will next be participating in Regionals, otherwise known as the 2022 Coastal Region Competition this Saturday. Trocan will make their routine sharper and more difficult to increase their endurance in hopes of defeating San Pedro. 

“We will make small adjustments in difficulty and try to make it cleaner and sharper. We will also use feedback from the judges of things that they wanted to see more of so we can make adjustments.”

Trocan will also add body positioning to their routine, which they haven’t done much before. This will require the flyers to stretch so that they can be flexible and do body positioning.

Despite the defeat to San Pedro, it doesn’t matter as long as they are a team together, Shortt said.“Whenever we win, we win together,” she said. “And no matter the outcome, it brings us closer.”