On Jan. 18, the New Trier Cheerleading team traveled to St. Charles, Missouri to compete in the National Cheer Association High School Open National Championship.

The team placed second at the event, their best finish ever, with a score of 73.4 percent, only to be bested by Mater Dei Prep from Middletown, New Jersey.

Senior Kelly Kim said of her teams’ triumph at nationals, “It was so intimidating, seeing all these teams that are just here to prove that they’re better than everyone else. Usually cheer is just about rooting for our team, but it’s such a different vibe knowing we’re the ones competing against others.”

While the purpose of cheerleading is to help and support whatever team they are rooting for, another aspect to the sport involves competition.

According to a recent article published by Business Insider, the world of cheerleading is more heavily based in the South.

In fact, in 2006, Lifetime created an original series called “Cheerleader Nation,” which followed Dunbar High School Varsity Cheerleaders in Lexington, Kentucky, focusing on the families of these competitive cheerleaders as well as the cheerleaders themselves.

Still, some northern teams like New Trier will venture down to compete with some of the more serious and “intimidating” teams. As they proved, northern teams can be just as competitive.

While anxious about the competitions, Kim was excited about the outcome, “Even though it was scary being around all those great teams, it did feel great to see how far we had come. You can’t complain about second place.”

Many teams hope to just get the chance to compete at a national competition, but placing is beyond their wildest dreams.

With practice four to five days a week, the team puts just as much time in during practice as they do on the basketball court and football field supporting New Trier athletics.

Although the cheer team did do very well at Nationals, the team agreed that their favorite part of the trip was bonding with each other and other teams.

“Staying at the same hotel and

being with just the cheerleaders really helped bring us together,” added Kim.