The Crusaders' cheer team brought their school spirit to Moose Jaw over the weekend, for the 2024 Best of the West competition. (Facebook/John Paul II Collegiate)

By Martin Martinson

Cheerleading Competition

Crusaders cheer team open competition season at Best of the West

Feb 12, 2024 | 5:30 PM

The John Paul II Crusaders cheer team took to the stage in Moose Jaw over the weekend for their first competition of the season, placing third in the Senior High Intermediate category at the 2024 Best of the West Cheer and Dance Championships.

Coach of the Crusaders’ cheer team, Rena Fauchon said she’s proud of what the team was able to accomplish in their first taste of competition this year.

“Third place is really good, especially considering we had two athletes that were out with injuries, so we had to have a practice Friday night actually to run through what the changes were going to be, and the girls adapted really well,” she said. “We even had another girl join our team the day before just to help us out, so third place is awesome.”

The JPII Crusaders cheer team, pictured here with their banner for placing third in their category. (Facebook/John Paul II Collegiate)

Fauchon added that even more impressive than the placing itself is that the team ‘hit zero’ with their performance as well. This means no stunts fell, all the squad’s tumbling landed, and no one violated the safety rules, something Fauchon called no easy feat.

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“That means you have no deductions so it’s really exciting to hit zero,” she said. “You get [awarded] pins and that’s kind of even a bigger deal than placing.”

One of the biggest competitions of the cheer season, the Best of the West Championships feature more than 1,600 athletes from across western Canada each year, competing across a variety of different skill levels, age groups, and categories.

While officially a two-day event, the Crusaders’ girls got to take in the spectacle of all the competition had to offer, watching the World team’s performance Friday night, featuring the very best of the best.

Saturday, they then took to the mats for their own performance, in a single two-and-a-half-minute routine the team has been working on developing and perfecting since the start of cheer practices back in September.

Marking the first event for the Crusaders’ cheer team this season, the JPII squad will now continue preparations over the next month, for two more major competitions ahead. In March the team will compete at both the Warman Cheer Classic March 8-10, and Provincial Cheerleading Championships the following weekend, March 16 in Saskatoon.

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Martin.Martinson@pattisonmedia.com

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