Junior Megan Armbruster and her team compete at cheerleading Worlds
May 9, 2018
Cheer teams from across the United States fly into Orlando, Florida, for the chance to be named best in the nation. Traveling with her team the Midwest Xplosion Blackout Stingrays Allstars, junior Megan Armbruster flew out to The Cheerleading Worlds on April 25 to join over 11,000 other athletes.
“This is the most prestigious cheerleading event. It was fun to go there, stay with my team and watch other teams we wouldn’t normally see,” Armbruster said. “I was excited to be able to go to Worlds; it’s every cheerleader’s dream to go there and compete.”
At Worlds, there are three days of competition. Day one is called Preliminaries, where Megan and her team competed and took second, moving on with the other top 10. During the Semi Finals on day two, they ended up placing 25th, and because only the top 15 move on to finals they were eliminated.
“My biggest motivation is my teammates,” Armbruster said, “Because you can’t win if one of them touches the ground while tumbling. The whole team of 19 girls gets deducted from one mistake, so it’s really a team effort.”
To try to ensure that their routine is as flawless as possible, during the month leading up to Worlds, Megan and her team practiced five or six days a week.
“In general, with cheer I’ve really learned to manage my time,” Armbruster said. “Our practices are five to six hours long on of the some days. With my hour commute there and back, I have to find time to do everything around that.”
Along with time management, Armbruster feels that cheer as a sport has shaped her as a person and taught her other valuable skills.
“Megan is a great leader,” said Saylor Martin, one of her teammates who attends Hartland High. “She is always pushing people to be better and improve their skills. Even if someone is not landing a skill they are supposed to land, she will tell them they’ve got it and to keep trying.”
In order to compete at Worlds again next year, Megan and her team must win a bid in the upcoming season. She is confident they will be able to achieve this because they went last season and can’t wait to see where this year takes them.
