The cheerleaders gather in the middle of the gym, anxiously waiting to hear the results of competition. After what seems like an eternity, the results were in. “First place goes to… Four Corners!” The crowd erupts as the Four Corners students can’t believe what they had just heard. Their school was champions for the first time ever, and they had just witnessed history.

On Saturday April 8^th, the Four Corners Coyotes cheer team, led by Coach Jennifer Araujo, competed at the Battle of the Bay cheer and dance competition hosted at Bishop Mclaughlin Catholic High School. Over 25 squads of all ages attended from all around Florida, all prepared for what was ahead of them. It may have only been Four Corners’ second competition ever, but they weren’t going to let that stop them. With new additions Javier Martinez and Reston Sweetney to the squad, they were now able to do bigger and better stunts that were not available to them before their arrival.

The routine along with the success did not come easily to the Coyotes. Two weeks before competition, the team lost a key member, and had to rework the routine they had been practicing for some time. “We lost a couple of people and had to revamp,” revealed Head Coach Jennifer Araujo. “We had two weeks to create a whole different flying stunt with somebody new, but we managed to pull it off very well.”

Before they knew it, competition was here. The Battle of the Bay was the last event the Coyotes would partake in for the 2017-18 school year, and were hoping to go out in the strongest way possible before next season’s preparations began. The team gathered at the school around 11am, and had an hour to prepare before going on.

“I felt slightly nervous prior to going on,” says team captain Kassidy Thezan, 11^th grade. “I knew that it was just nerves and that once we stepped out on the mat, the adrenaline would kick in and we would do everything to our best ability.”

At 12pm, the time had finally arrived. It was show time. The Coyotes took their places on the mat, and performed the routine they had worked so hard to perfect. The routine consisted of dancing, tumbling, and flying stunts. After the performance concluded, the Cheerleaders returned to the bleachers, where they anxiously watched the rest of the show, preparing themselves to get the final results back. At about 1pm, all of the squads were called to the mat, where they would hear the final results announced. When the high school results began, the Coyotes locked arms and heard the amazing announcement. They had won the Battle of the Bay Cheer Competition. Disbelief set in, as the team had never experienced a winning feeling such as this before.

“Before I moved to Florida, I was on three teams including all-star, but I still cried when I became a grand champion,” said Julianna Benz, 11^th grade. “It was something amazing to me because I have never been a grand champion and I’ve been on crazy teams”.

After all of the schools had received their individual awards, there were a few more to be handed out, this time for the best overall performances at the entire competition. Too busy celebrating over their high school victory, the squad wasn’t even focused on these awards, still in total bliss over their win. Parents from rival schools prepared their cameras, confident they would win the title of Grand Champions once again, an award given to the best performance at the event. However, this would prove to be a classic case of celebrating too early. The judge announced Four Corners as Grand Champions, and the deafening screams of the squad and fans engulfed the gym. In their second ever competition, they had just accomplished something no other team in Four Corners had ever managed to do: win a championship title.

“It was electric in our side of the stands,” said spectator Juan Viruet, 11^th grade. “I felt proud because it was the first time we actually won something in a competition.”

The squad was awarded with a championship banner for their victory, along with a trophy. In an amazing turn of events, the Four Corners cheer squad had managed to go from never competing before to winning a Grand Championship, able to call themselves the first champions in the school’s history. The championship that had eluded them for years was finally theirs. Four Corners is now a school of champions, and will be forever as this historic win is immortalized in the gym. With the confidence gained from this event, the squad took with them an experience they would never forget. With a new winning instinct, the team will always strive to be the best, and reclaim their spot at the top for years to come. The victory at the Battle of the Bay will not be the last the world hears of Four Corners Upper School.