Feature Photo By: (Betty Gessese) – The varsity cheer team poses for their team picture. From last year the team lost 16 seniors, team captain Fetale Ali, “We kind of started fresh this year.”

They perform various dances at football games and assemblies along with their own competitions. Tomorrow, the Rangeview Poms and Cheer team will compete in their annual League competition, here at Rangeview in the large gym at 5:30. Last year the varsity cheer team got 3rd place after Brighton High School and Prairie View High School in competition , and the poms team won first.

“They always have a lot of energy when they dance,” said Victoria Pasillas, Rangeview junior, “They have been improving a lot since I was a freshman.”

They have been improving their skill level as a team , as they were able to show at the homecoming assembly with their caveman dance.

According to a teammate, Hanna Piilola, “We get a lot of good feedback, people are wondering when we are going to perform next.”

Last year at League, the Rangeview Varsity Poms team took 1st place when they competed with a jazz dance. The team is hoping to pull off another win this year; they are competing in the Poms category to “Fight Song”.

Coach Katie Termeer said, “It is a fast song, but the team is very strong… the caliber of dancers is better, they have pushed themselves technically, there is an inner-team challenge to be better, we try to make our next dance better than the last one.”

The Rangeview Cheer team has been practicing since their tryouts in March and have been working extra hard especially in the past few weeks in order to have a better finish than last year.

Sophomore teammate Nikki Beno said, “I think we have been working hard this past couple weeks and we have pushed ourselves and we are trying as hard as we can.”

They are hoping that although they lost 16 seniors from the team, they will be able to pull off a better finish than last year. They have been practicing almost everyday after school for league along with cheering at almost all of the football games.

Coach Gessese said, “We work well, the team has a great dynamic, they have a positive spirit and are motivated, Our routine is very difficult but they have been executing it well.”

The cheer team is at almost all football games, along with having their own practices. They help to encourage the crowd to cheer for the players. Without the cheerleaders, the crowd at games would not have guidance to cheer the team to a win.

Team captain Fetale Ali said, “The cheerleaders are there to lead the crowd and the crowd is always there to help lead the team to a win.”

The poms team practices their dances everyday after school to try and perfect them. They are hoping that RHS students come and show their support appreciate the hard work that has been put in.

The Cheer and poms team are hoping to have student support at their competition. The Raider Review will be live-streaming the competition here:

www.nfhsnetwork.com