The Hollister Vikings continued their regional domination for a
seventh consecutive year on Friday when they advanced two of their
three competitive squads to the national championships at the
Pacific Northwest Regional cheer competition in Santa Clara.
Hollister has advanced at least two squads to nationals each year
since 2004.
SANTA CLARA
The Hollister Vikings continued their regional domination for a seventh consecutive year on Friday when they advanced two of their three competitive squads to the national championships at the Pacific Northwest Regional cheer competition in Santa Clara. Hollister has advanced at least two squads to nationals each year since 2004.
But this year one team, the Hollister junior midgets, finished first in all three of their local and regional competitions, earning the highest overall score of any team in every single West Coast competition they entered.
They believe their performance bodes well for their chances at taking home Hollister’s first-ever national championship trophy, which was coach Pepper Soto’s stated goal for the team at the start of the season. Of the 13 teams Hollister has sent to nationals since 2004, none have finished higher than fifth place in the tournament.
Just making it to nationals is quite an achievement, though. Only the top 10 to 16 teams in the nation from each Pop Warner competitive division earn the right to compete for the national championship.
Two other Hollister teams competed in the regional championship this year as well, with the junior pee wees taking second place and also earning a trip to Florida to compete for the national championship. It will mark the sixth consecutive year that Hollister’s junior pee wees have competed at nationals, and they did it this year with a squad that was made up mostly of new competitive cheerleaders.
The Hollister pee wees, meanwhile, just missed advancing to nationals, earning third place in Friday’s regional championship. The teams that finished first and second — Oakland and Mountain View — finished 1-2 in every competition this year at the pee wee level. The Hollister pee wees improved upon their routine each time, but the other two teams also showed continuous improvement to defend their top spots all the way through the season.
None of the teams that hailed from Nevada, Oregon or Washington could even come close to the level of either Hollister, Oakland or Mountain View at the regional competition.
The Pop Warner national competition is held each December at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. The Hollister Vikings organization is extremely grateful to Bertuccio’s and Tonascia Farms, which provided a practice facility free of charge to the Vikings’ cheerleaders this year. All three of the competitive cheer squads practiced there, and the coaches agree that the facility provided a huge advantage since they were able to use it all season.
