Cold Spring Harbor cheerleading team wins Nassau Class C crown
Cold Spring Harbor wins the Class C division at the Nassau Game Day Cheer championships at Hofstra on Sunday. Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
The arena erupted with excitement on Sunday when it was announced that the Cold Spring Harbor girls cheerleading team was the Class C champion of the first Nassau County Game Day Cheer Championship at Hofstra University.
"We're all holding hands and then we hear that we won, and everyone just started jumping and hugging one another in a big circle," senior captain Livi Pellizzi said.
This was more than just earning a county title; the team made history by earning the first Nassau County championship for the Seahawks program.
“This is a first for Cold Spring Harbor and we are just all completely elated,” assistant coach Keri Gonzalez said.
Jennifer Keane, the Section VIII cheerleading coordinator, has watched the Cold Spring Harbor cheer program become what it is today. "It’s pretty amazing, especially because I’ve been the coordinator for the competitive season for a number of years, so to watch a program grow and get to the point of where they are now as a county champion and competing for a state championship is very exciting,” Keane said.
Senior captain Kyrie Gagnon said she feels grateful to experience this with her team. “When we’re out on the mat there’s 24 of us, but we function as one, and it feels great being able to share this moment with all of my teammates and best friends.”
The Game Day cheer focuses on traditional cheerleading — the routines that teams preform on the sidelines. “We look for sharpness, faces, synchronization and which team is able to rally the crowd,” Keane said.
Gonzalez said that the team’s resilience and the hard work they have put in over the last few days is what helped them get the Class C crown.
“We’ve been working really hard the last week taking the scores from previous competitions and really focusing in on where our downfalls were,” Gonzalez said. “We made a few adjustments that overall made the routine stronger, which I think ultimately helped us win this.”
Farmingdale defeated Freeport for the Class A title and Seaford defeated Division for the Class B title. West Hempstead was a finalist for Class C.
"It was an exciting day for the Nassau County cheerleading world," Keane said. "The competition ran great, and all of the teams preformed really well."
The next stop for the Seahawks is Binghamton, where the Game Day State Championship will take place at the Visions Veterans Memorial Arena on Nov. 5. They hope to have another historic win.
"We want to hit our best routine yet, get an even higher score and hopefully win the state championship," Gagnon said.