The Sweet Home High School Huskies cheerleaders opened their competition season with a second-place finish Monday, Jan. 16 at Lake Oswego and a third-place finish in South Albany Saturday, Jan. 14.
Saturday, Henley placed first among five teams. Newport finished second.
The Huskies trailed Henley by nine points in scoring, said Coach Amber Rosa. “It wasn’t our best, but we had to make a ton of changes.”
The team had its routine down, but late personnel changes forced Rosa to move cheerleaders into new positions on the mat.
They’re battling, Rosa said. “They have a huge fight and drive for it.”
Despite no practices between the competitions, Sweet Home lost to Henley by just half a point in Lake Oswego. They also finished ahead of Gladstone, Rosa said, which is a key rival for the Huskies.
Based on what she’s seen, Gladstone, Henley and Newport will be the toughest competitors for the Huskies this season.
“The junior high team did awesome,” Rosa said. “It was their first one (Saturday in South Albany). A lot of them were inexperienced.”
By about five points, they took second behind Aloha, which is in a 6A school district. About half of the junior high cheerleaders return from last season, and about half are new.
“They did as good as I could’ve wanted,” Rosa said.