On February 26, 2017, Poly Spirit Leaders took part in a competition at CSULB. Song, Cheer Stunt Group, and Mascot competed in their divisions respectively. The small, but mighty Song team consisted of sophomore Kennedy Cofield and juniors Becca Gutierrez and Megan Villaverde. The Stunt Group was seniors Ashley Applewhite and Maggie Dines, sophomores Raelynn Rios and Joanna Rowden, and freshman Ayona Young. The mascots competing this competition were sophomores Coco Sanabria and Thaili Sweet.
In order to prepare for their competition, Cofield said, “Song drilled the dance over and over again full out with strong arms and facials.”
Cheer’s Dines said, “We were at practice every single day for at least two hours. We would run and then stunt for the rest of practice to build up our endurance and make sure that at competition, when we weren’t tired, we could hit the routine. Every time something got hard or the group started to get frustrated with each other, we reminded ourselves that we are capable of making this routine and that we just needed to keep a positive attitude and keep encouraging each other no matter what happened.”
Song performed their competition routine again. The theme for the song portion was “Teamwork,” so the song mix for the routine had to reflect that. “High School Musical”, “Everything is Awesome,” and Lorde’s “Team” were included. The routine was choreographed by Cynthia Negrete and her daughter Marissa Negrete. Their fast-paced dance and cheerful facials expressions kept the audience intrigued. Villaverde said, “I’m proud of song for pulling through and getting second even though we were all sick.”
The Mascots also did their routine with Sweet as the second bunny. The Mascot routine has to have a storyline that is conveyed to the audience and gets the audience participating in supporting their team. The theme was “Create a Lover,” and Jonathan Rabbit was a mad scientist who decided to make his own perfect lover. It had songs including, “Somebody to Love” by Queen.