Hillsborough Cheerleaders Going to Disney World

competition cheerleading squad to Walt Disney World on the weekend of Feb. 11, to compete in a national cheer competition.

The Raiders cheerleaders will now be one of approximately 60 teams nationwide with the chance at a national championship. The team will have to make it through the competition’s preliminary, semifinal and final rounds for the right to be called champions.

Not bad for a team that has had to make adjustments on the fly due to injuries to several of its members.

“We’ve had practice since August for this with choreography and gymnastics,” said Raiders Head Coach Jessica Fedroff. “We’ve actually had quite a few injuries, so we’ve had to change a lot of things. They’ve gotten through that, which was difficult.”

Fedroff, who coaches alongside her fellow Hillsborough alumna Taryn Weil, told Patch that her team hopes to make it all the way to the competition’s final round, which will be aired nationwide on ESPN.

“Our goal is to make it to finals, which is something that Hillsborough has never done before,” said Fedroff. “We’ve made it to the semifinals in the past, but we haven’t been there in four years.”

Fedroff and her team seem confident in their chances, despite having an inexperienced squad at this level of competition. Only four of Hillsborough’s cheerleaders—Sierra Harris, Jessica McGuire, Stefanie Levonaitis, and Keisha Kauffman—have competed at a national level in the past.

Kauffman, lauded the efforts of everyone on the team as the competition draws nearer.

“We’ve been practicing six days a week. We just started a new routine; we’ve been practicing that and running through it, trying to hit everything and trying to get it perfect so the judges can give us the best scores that we can earn,” said Kauffman.

Kauffman is also proud of her teammates’ positive attitude and ability to rise to the challenges they have faced, which should bode well for the Disneyworld competition.

“We’re going to try our best and have our positive attitude when we go into a different challenge,” said Kauffman.

Coach Fedroff also attested to the girls’ resolve.

“They’re good; they’ll overcome everything,” said Fedroff. “They have so far, and they’re good at performing in front of a crowd. They put it on for everyone.”