On Jan. 22, Fremd’s varsity cheer team placed 3rd at the Mid-Suburban League championships.
Each of the twelve MSL teams’ cheer routines can only last for up to three minutes and consist of yelling, tumbling, and stunting. This year’s champions were the Schaumburg Saxons, followed by the Prospect Knights, and the Fremd Vikings.
This year’s team was composed mainly of underclassmen, with a small group of juniors and seniors leading them.
Head Coach Mucia Burke comments on the advantages of a younger group.
“It has been really great to get a younger group of kids,” Burke said. “They’re really hard working, I would say they’re more determined than other groups in the past, and just really dedicated.”
However, Burke acknowledges that there is a lot more pressure placed on the younger team and is proud of their performance.
“For a young team, it could have been a really challenging competition for them, and they really kind of just outperformed everything they did before,” Burke said.
The Vikings’ third place finish wasn’t the only special thing about this tournament though. This was the first time in nine years that Fremd hosted the MSL championships. Since a lot of teams in the conference do well at state each year, hosting was an amazing experience for Burke and Fremd.
Although cheer doesn’t usually participate in many home events, the team enjoyed the opportunity to perform in their own gym and in front of their peers.
“What’s really cool is being in our gym and having our mats that we use. We never get a home field advantage or we don’t ever feel that, so just being here and hosting, that was really cool,” Burke said.
Burke also thought Fremd’s community of supporting administrators and staff were able to help make this championship different from years past.
“Fremd as a whole, everyone is really into just everything. The staff is really dedicated, the students are dedicated, the athletes are dedicated,” Burke said. “So, it being at Fremd, I think other schools had the opportunity to feel that from us, and it was cool to showcase that because it’s not that way at every school.”
Burke is excited to get feedback from the other MSL coaches on areas to improve the tournament as Fremd will be hosting for the next few years. Nevertheless, she is pleased with both the organization and outcome of the championship.
“I can’t think of anything that I want to change…we had a lot of compliments on our staff and our administrators…we’re proud of the way that we finished,” Burke said.
