Triumphant Again

If you told the Shannon Smith of seven years ago she’d be walking away from a national cheerleading tournament with a top-three team by 2010, she wouldn’t have believed you.

The Stafford native, coach of the Barnegat High School varsity cheerleading team, remembers dreaming about ranking at a national competition when she started coaching at the then-new high school in 2004. 

“I would say, ‘The day we win a national championship I’ll retire,’” she said, “Because I thought I’d be 50 or 60.”

Turns out, she’s getting close already.

Smith watched her girls win their second division top-three performance in two years last weekend at the Universal Cheerleaders Association’s National High School Cheerleading Championship in Orlando, Fla. 

“It was absolutely amazing,” she said of the team’s performance. “We thought it was going to be a rebuilding year for us. We had nine new girls on the mat, and we compete with 20." 

As a result, she wasn’t expecting a repeat of the team’s surprise third-place finish in Large Varsity Division II at the huge national competition. That 2010 triumph had been far beyond the team’s own expectations. It was only their second year at the competition; the year before, they hadn’t made it out of preliminary round.

This year, Smith said, “our goal was just to get to finals. We weren’t shooting for top three. The team was aiming to perform to the best of its ability and hit the routine they’d worked so hard on.

If they could do that, said Smith, “the place we come in doesn’t matter.”

Still, she said, she knew this year’s squad was something special.

“This year, the talent was there on my team,” she said, they just had to work to make up for their lack of experience. And they did, she said, practicing, competing or performing seven days a week in the lead-up to nationals. 

They were named the 2011 champs at the County championships in early February, but their eyes were on the big competition in Florida, where they would go up against the cream of the crop in their division: 30 teams of 20 girls from schools with fewer than 1,600 students.

On Saturday, “the girls hit a perfect routine,” said Smith. “We didn’t care what happened after that.”

They scored so well they were ushered into the finals immediately, without having to perform again in the semi-finals. It was a welcome chance to relax, Smith said, and cheer on the Southern Regional team members during their own preliminary round. 

Normally the schools are rivals, but far from home, competing in separate divisions, the practiced together and cheered each other on, Smith said. “It’s really nice for our girls to come together down there,” she said. 

But they were also working hard up until the last minute, adjusting their routine in response to judge’s comments. Nerves got to some of the girls, she said. Smith’s response was to tell them to count the mats. 

“I said, ‘It’s the same nine panels you’ve been practicing on. You can’t be scared of this mat. Turn it into excitement and do what you do.’”

That’s exactly what they did, Smith said.

“My girls do so well when they’re under a lot of pressure,” she said. “When they have something they’re going after, they turn it on, and they’re absolutely amazing. It was flawless.”

What they all felt during the awards ceremony was incredible, Smith said.

“It was definitely a different feeling than the first year,” she said. They would have been thrilled with top ten. 

“They get to top five,” she said. “Then the fifth team was called. Then the fourth team. That’s when everyone lost it.”

For those following the team’s progress from home, there was a lot of joy, too.

“They truly represent all that’s good in high school sports,” said Barnegat High School athletic director John Germano. “They executed at the time when it was most valuable, under all that pressure. They hit another home run.”

When the team’s bus pulled into the school parking lot Monday night after a long drive back from the Philadelphia, Smith said they got a welcome to match their achievement. 

A huge crowd of family and friends was there to meet them, she said, holding signs, cheering them on and showering them with streamers as they disembarked.

“I was crying,” Smith said, getting choked up again remembering it. “It was so nice that people appreciated and realized how hard they worked.”

To see a video of the varsity team's performance at nationals, visit the district home page here.

The team

Head Coach: Shannon Smith

Asst. Varsity Coach: Leah Froberg

JV Coach: Courtney Holmes

Seniors:

• Sharyn Moran
• Sidney Hernandez
• Paige Mallett
• Nicolette Landi
• Brittany Saxton
• Alex Dudas
• Tanisha Jodice 

Juniors:

• Valerie Caracasses
• Michelle Lombardi
• Kayla Chmara
• Michele Marold
• Kelsi Mozart
• Brianna Scaglione 

Sophomores:

• Kristin Mormelo
• Jessica Segarra
• Paige Albanese
• Lizzy Beyer
• Clarissa O'Connor 

Freshmen:

• Samantha Peltier
• Sarah Rotolo

Alternates:

• Abby Fleming (Junior)
• Brittaney Bergen (Junior)
• Genelle Kraner (Sophomore)
• Alexa Schmitz (Sophomore)
• Jamie Lynch (Sophomore)
• Kelly Maloney (Junior)