By: Ronan Heykoop

–{Sterling, Virginia}– Tuscarora’s Varsity Cheer squad completed a sweep of the District Mini Showcases. On the seventh of October the Huskies put up a stellar 244 points beating out second place Park View by 33 points (211) and more recently on October 12th, Tuscarora overcame rival Broad Run by a margin of 0.5 (236.5 to 236). This marks the first time Tuscarora has defeated the Broad Run Spartans since the 2017 season. 

Senior Courtney Poole talked about the team’s recent success, “Placing first at the past two competitions has just been an amazing reward for all of our hard work! It feels good! Although, it doesn’t mean we won’t keep pushing. These competitions aren’t just about ‘beating Broad Run,’ but putting our best routine on the mat and doing it as a team.”

 Fellow Senior Reilly Russell added, “It feels absolutely unreal to beat Broad Run. Since my freshman year they’ve been the team that we just can’t get past. Now all of our work in past years has brought us up to where we need to be.” Tuscarora’s Cheer program has made great strides within the last few seasons since their 2017 second place finish at the state championships. Russel spoke about how the team worked this season to prepare for the postseason; “At the beginning of the season there were some doubts in our mindset of what we would be able to put on the mat, especially considering how different last season was in terms of what we were allowed to do. Now, we have absolutely proved to ourselves that we are more than capable of putting out an incredible routine and that has lit a fire in all of us to want to keep pushing even harder for districts and beyond.” 

Tuscarora has continued their preparation between the District Tournaments to solidify their position at the top of the Dulles District. “Because the scores were so close at the last competition, we wanted to make some changes to solidify our top position. So far, we have added some more difficulty into our stunting sections as well as added in some new tumbling skills that we have been working on” said Russel. 

The Huskies now have their eyes set on the District Championships which will take place on October 19th at Park View High School. Poole knows that the work isn’t finished as they look ahead to the District finals; “We have been on a high since district minis #1, but realize that this isn’t the end. Winning back to back comps is amazing, but there’s still so much we can improve on and the other teams aren’t far behind us. We’re going to work harder than ever before District Finals and kill it on the mat once again.” On Tuesday, the Lady Huskies need a top four finish to move on to regionals, and are seeking their first District Championship since 2014. Competition will begin at 6:30pm.