ORLANDO, Fla. – It’s showtime!
This weekend, six Staten Island teams will be representing the borough in the National High School Cheerleading Competition in the Sunshine State. Held at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports complex, located within Walt Disney World, the competition will pit the country’s best high school and elementary school teams against each other as each looks to become national champions.
One slight difference from years past, however, is that the competition will be broken up into two separate weekends based on school size. In addition, dance teams will now join the cheer squads in competition during its respective division’s weekend.
St. Joseph Hill will look to go far in the Small Varsity II division this weekend. (Annie DeBiase for the Advance/SILive.com)(Annie DeBiase for the Advance/SILive.com)
But, with all six Island schools competing this year being Division II (1399 or less students), fans have easy access to watch their favorite teams compete all at once.
Three of Staten Island’s CHSAA cheerleading teams (Moore Catholic, Notre Dame Academy and St. Joseph Hill), in addition to the Mavericks’ dance team, will compete from Friday, Jan. 30 to Sunday, Feb. 1. Elementary schools St. Charles and St. Clare’s, meanwhile, will begin their rounds on Saturday.
Whether you were able to escape the snow and chill of New York for Orlando or not, the Staten Island Advance/SILive.com has you covered with a full master schedule of when the six teams are scheduled to perform. The whole competition, for those not in Florida, will be streamed on Varsity TV.
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SI Cheer Alliance Showcase at Wagner College
First, a few things to know before the Staten Island teams kick off their quest to become national champions:
Hill, Moore and NDA are all competing in Small Varsity II, with the former two schools in the “D” bracket while the latter will begin in the “A” bracket. While this means the Hilltoppers and Mavericks will compete against each other directly at all stages of competition, neither would go against the Gators until finals (provided, of course, both or all three teams advance). NDA’s Game-Day routine is classified under Medium Varsity Game-Day II while St. Clare’s, competing for the first time in the category, will be under Large Junior High Game-Day II. Meanwhile, St. Charles and St. Clare’s will compete against each other in Large Junior High II.Moore Catholic’s dance team, competing in the Varsity Intermediate II divisions in both Hip Hop and Jazz, will begin competing the former on Friday and the latter on Saturday.The HS cheer teams will start competing their routines on Friday while the elementary schools will enter the competition on Saturday.While both elementary schools and the Mavericks’ jazz routine will begin their competition in the semifinals, the rest of the routines will begin in preliminaries. With the remaining divisions broken into brackets, if any team earns the top score in its respective bracket it will go straight to finals (for example, if NDA competes and earns the top score in the Small Varsity II “A” prelim bracket, it will bypass semifinals and punch its ticket straight to finals). It is currently unclear whether the teams moving on to semifinals and finals will be streamed on Varsity TV throughout the day. However, according to its website, announcements after 10 p.m. will be streamed on Varsity TV while all announcements will be held in The Stadium at ESPN approximately one hour or more after the last team’s performance. The location of each team’s performance, in bold below, is also what its respective livestream will be assigned. In addition, if any squad ends up advancing to finals, awards will be taking place/streamed in the venue the team competed in.
Now, without further ado, check out the whole schedule below! Please note, this story will be updated early Saturday morning to reflect updated times as teams find out whether or not they will move on in the competition or not.
Also, make sure to check out the gallery above from the SI Alliance Cheer Showcase, hosted by Wagner College on Friday, Jan. 23!
Notre Dame Academy will compete in both Small Varsity II and Medium Game-Day II this weekend. (Annie DeBiase for the Advance/SILive.com)(Annie DeBiase for the Advance/SILive.com)
FRIDAY
Moore (VA INT II Hip Hop prelims) – 2:22pm in AdventHealth Arena East (Blue)
NDA (Small Varsity II prelims) – 4:38pm in AdventHealth Arena North (Yellow)
Moore (Small Varsity II prelims) – 7:06pm in AdventHealth Arena North (Yellow)
NDA (Medium Game-Day II prelims) – 7:17pm in AdventHealth Arena East (Blue)
Hill (Small Varsity II prelims) – 7:30pm in AdventHealth Arena North (Yellow)
The Crusaders will compete both its traditional and gameday routines at the National High School Cheerleading Competition this weekend. (Annie DeBiase for the Advance/SILive.com)(Annie DeBiase for the Advance/SILive.com)
SATURDAY
*Moore (VA INT II Hip Hop semis) – between 8:04am and 9:59am in AdventHealth Arena North (Yellow)
*NDA (Small Varsity II A/B semis) – between 10:20am and 1:04pm in State Farm Arena
*Hill & Moore (Small Varsity II C/D semis) – between 10:24am and 1:08pm in State Farm Arena
Moore (VA INT II Jazz semis) – 2:22pm in AdventHealth Arena North (Yellow)
St. Charles (Large Junior High II semis) – 2:30pm in AdventHealth Arena South (Red)
St. Clare’s (Large Junior High II semis) – 3:26pm in AdventHealth Arena South (Red)
*NDA (Medium Game-Day II semis) – between 4:30pm and 7:26pm in Athletic Center
St. Clare’s (Large Junior High Game-Day II semis) – 9:29pm in AdventHealth Arena East (Blue)
St. Charles will compete in the Large Junior High II division this weekend. (Annie DeBiase for the Advance/SILive.com)(Annie DeBiase for the Advance/SILive.com)
SUNDAY
*NDA (Medium Game-Day II finals) – between 8:00am and 9:57am in Athletic Center
*Moore (VA INT II Jazz finals) – between 10:49am and 11:45pm in AdventHealth Arena North (Yellow)
*St. Charles & St. Clare’s (Large Junior High II finals) – between 12:45pm and 1:21pm in AdventHealth Arena South (Red)
*Moore (VA INT II Hip Hop finals) – between 1:34pm and 2:30pm in AdventHealth Arena North (Yellow)
*Hill, Moore & NDA (Small Varsity II finals) – between 5:00pm and 6:20pm in State Farm Arena
*St. Clare’s (Large Junior High Game-Day II finals) – between 6:49pm and 7:29pm in AdventHealth Arena West (Green)
Moore Catholic’s dance team, coached by Jackie Castore and assisted by Lola Mosca, will compete its Hip Hop and Jazz routines this weekend. (Courtesy of Mike Ponsiglione)(Courtesy of Mike Ponsiglione)