Being part of a sport objectively takes up a large part of an athletes life, and this is the same with junior MK Morganthaler, captain of Castle View’s cheer team. About two weeks ago, the team was invited to compete at nationals in Florida, something only done once before. 

“Last year was our first year at nationals, and we did the best we had ever done. We ended up getting 5th, and our division was extremely hard so we were satisfied with our placement, but we still wanted to do better. That’s why this year was so important to us. We wanted to prove that we could compete nationally and continue to get better,” Morganthaler said.

The team practiced endlessly to prepare to compete, oftentimes practicing every single day. Cheer requires each move to be exactly correct to be scored, so it was crucial for the team to get it right.

“I felt really good going into nationals. I was confident in myself as well as our team because we had a lot to prove,” Morganthaler said.

Even outside of the competition, traveling as a team served as a great opportunity for bonding. Spending that much time together forced the team to get to know each other even more.

“The team was able to bond so much over the trip because we were staying in rooms with each other. We were constantly with each other and that made us feel even more like a family,” Morganthaler said.

After preparing for months, Castle View finally took their routine to the national stage. All their hard work was seen by the judges too!

“We did extremely well at nationals and placed second out of 45 teams. Our performances were some of the best we had all season,” Morganthaler said.

Seeing all their hard work paying off was a major relief to the competitors. The team was bonded together through this win, and we very happy with how the season wrapped up.

“The emotional response was an overwhelming sense of pride in the program and each member of the team. The team members were so emotional, especially because so many of them were seniors and this would be the last time they competed with this program,” Morganthaler said.

The graduating seniors and athletes of next year all got to walk away with a sense of peace, knowing they accomplished what they went there to do.