Cheerleaders are known for giving extra pep during school football and basketball games, but the Tracy High competition cheer squad showed its skills by coming in second place in the JAMZ Adrenaline Competition at the University of California Davis in the Arc Pavilion on Jan. 12.

“The girls pushed themselves very hard to earn the placing they got,” cheer coach Sheila Soares said. “It is always great seeing hard work pay off in a competition.”

Soares explained that the competition cheerleaders practice double what all of the Tracy High cheerleaders practice. Practices are between two to three hours three days a week, starting with warming up by stretching and jumping, followed up by practicing stunts that need the most improvement.

“We work on perfecting everything and making it all look stronger,” junior Makaela Bournazian said.

Bournazian, who has been on the cheer team and competition team since her freshman year, described the practices as “exhausting but fun.”

The competition team also placed second in their first JAMZ competition of the school year in Sacramento last November.

Soares said the cheerleaders created a goals chart for the season to help them with their routine so the team can get their highest possible score from the judges. The chart contains each competition date of the season, along with the team’s goals for the specific competitions.

The next competition the team is preparing for is the JAMZ Nationals Competition on Feb. 19-22 in Las Vegas.

“It’s very exciting to be moving on to nationals because we’ve been practicing so hard as a team and have already improved so much,” junior Kennedy Gray said. “We will go to win!”

Gray, even though this is her first year on the competition team, she feels very little pressure about going to the competition in Las Vegas.

“We are working harder than ever to boost the difficulty in our routine,” Bournazian said. “If we challenge ourselves now, the competition will be a breeze.”

Many of the girls are pushing themselves to their maximum ability to get first place at the competition and come home with the jackets and banner for the prize.

“There will be many great teams going up against us in Vegas, but competition is good,” senior Arielle Tabar said. “It will not be easy in Las Vegas, but at the rate we are practicing at right now, we are looking better and better each day.”

Soares agreed with the girls, and has high hopes of winning the top prize in Las Vegas.

“The girls and I take the comments that the judges make to heart, and work them into our routines,” Soares said.

Gray said that the other teams at both the Sacramento and Davis competitions were good teams with solid stunts, smooth jumps, and strong tumbling.

“They were good competition,” Gray said. “Their routines were very clean and energized.”

Tabar and Bournazian agreed with Gray, but know the team has what it takes to win.

“Our routine has more difficulty, but it all depends on what the judges want,” Bournazian said. “Each judge is different, some to our advantage, some to our disadvantage.”