On Saturday Feb. 13, Trent University’s cheerleading team placed first in the collegiate category at the Funfest Cheer competition in Brampton, Ontario - a huge accomplishment for the Trent Excalibur.

To boot, this was Trent Cheer’s first time competing.

They were up against other university teams, as well as cheer gyms such as Cheer Strong in Durham, PCT (Power Cheer Toronto) in Oakville and high school teams such as Peterborough’s own Crestwood High School.

The Trent team’s success continued when they competed in the Cheer Evolution Ontario Championships in Kitchener, Ontario, from Feb. 26 to 28, where they received a well-earned fourth place in the university category against other universities such as Wilfred Laurier University and Guelph University.

Without a doubt, these girls have worked extremely hard the last few months to succeed in these events.

In competition, cheer teams perform a routine of approximately two minutes and 30 seconds, performing it twice to allow for more feedback from the judges. Then they are evaluated on their dance, choreography and presentation, in addition to the quality of their jumps, stunts and pyramids.

The Trent cheer ladies practice at least two to three times a week, in addition to training at the gym several days at week.

No doubt this is a highly dedicated team who deserved their win, attending rehearsal at the gym at 6:30a.m. most days they practice.

The Trent cheerleading team was founded in 2013, coming a long way in the last few years, expanding into a large, hardworking team that has many successes, and we can be assured will continue to have many more.

Cheer captain Paisley Pinard and the rest of the Trent cheerleading team would like to say thanks, and that they could not have done it without the support of the Trent Central Student’s Association, The Trent Athletics Center, their hard working choreographers Sabine Munro and Kadie Johnson, as well as their amazing coaches Brooke Hammer and Kinzi Trout.