Going for gold: Northside cheerleaders competing in NCHSAA state event

Published 11:08 am Friday, December 6, 2024

By Jason O. Boyd

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YEATESVILLE, N.C. — Northside High School’s cheerleaders departed for Raleigh on Friday for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The Panthers qualified for the first time in the NC High School Athletic Association Invitational, a one-day event that will crown state champions in cheerleading in several divisions. Northside held a special sendoff for the ladies before they got on a bus to head to the capital.

Northside and other schools will compete at the Raleigh Convention Center. A link with details on the event can be found here.

“Oh, I’m super proud of them because I know last year they got third place and they really thought that they would have placed higher,” said Jackie Small, who is also the cheerleading coach at Northeast Elementary School and is in her first year at Northside.

“So we just talk a lot about, you know, striving to be like their best self. And, you know, not so much like winning or beating somebody else, but like being the best that they can be and then taking it from there.

“So I was just really proud of them because they worked their butts off and they did really well.”

Northside was the only school in Beaufort County to qualify for the event. The Panthers made it after finishing second in their division at a competition at East Carteret High School in Beaufort a few weeks ago. Since then, the team hasn’t broken the routine they began back in the summer. They have been practicing and performing at the school’s football and basketball games while also doing other practices on their routine to be ready to perform.

“Our team has been working tirelessly, you know, getting ready for this competition,” said Trinity O’Neal, one of three seniors on the squad. “So think for us to be able to make it to states after conference is a really big deal.

“And none of it would have been possible without our coach, Miss Jackie. Obviously, we’ve never … none of us have ever had the opportunity to go to states. So I think it is a big deal.”

There are three seniors on the squad who also serve as the team captains: O’Neal, Sierra Minor and Addy Davenport. Like the others on the squad, competing at this level is a first — one they are thrilled to be a part of and excited to see how they perform.

“I would say most importantly, it’s the mindset, getting yourself and everybody on your team into the mindset of, we got this we’re gonna win,” said Minor, who has watched lots of videos online to help prepare herself and has an older sister who cheered. “But it’s that’s where it starts. Before we even do a sit-up or a toe touch, back, handspring. It starts with the mindset.”

“It’s been a really big accomplishment for me, and I’m really excited,” Davenport said. “We did really good, and we might have messed up like on a little thing, but other than that, I think we did really great, and it felt really good.

“So I’m excited to go to the one this Saturday and do the same thing, hopefully, and have that same feeling.”

Small said the sky is the limit for her squad and how well they can perform.

“You never know on competition day what’s going to happen with another team, what’s going to happen with anybody really,” Small said. “So you just go out there, you leave it all on the mat, you do your best, and then you’re just proud of it at the end of the day.”

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