Competitive cheerleading has been recognized by the California Interscholastic Federation for three years. The San Diego Section held its inaugural cheer championship in January 2018 at Montgomery High School.
The 2019 section finals took place Dec. 7 at Carlsbad High School.
The event proved to be an early Christmas present for Granite Hills High School, which repeated as the Division I Large Schools champion.
Competitive cheer has proven to be a popular addition to the regular high school sports slate. More than 40 squads participated at the 2019 CIF finals.
Cheer champions also included Hilltop High School (Division I Small Schools), Poway High School (Division II Large Schools), Cathedral Catholic High School (Division II Small Schools), Grossmont High School (Division III Large Schools), Del Norte High School (Division III Small Schools), El Camino High School (Game Day), Southwest El Centro High School (Coed), West Hills High School (Coed non-tumbling) and Our Lady of Peace Academy (Non-tumbling).
Other teams competing alongside Granite Hills included Steele Canyon High School (runner up) and Central Union High School.
Making a splash
The San Diego County girls water polo senior all-star game took place March 7 at the La Jolla Coggan Family Aquatic Complex.
The game format includes a match-up between the country’s larger enrollment schools and smaller enrollment schools.
East County athletes helped buoy the rosters of both teams in this year’s event.
Granite Hills’ Nia Payne, the Grossmont Valley League Player of the Year, helped steer the large campus team to an 8-4 victory alongside Lady Eagles teammate Audrey Laskey, Helix’s Josephine Reinicke and Grossmont’s Haili Fellabaum.
El Capitan’s Taylor North and Stephanie Beville suited up for the small campus team.
Laskey and North both scored goals in the game while Payne made 10 saves to guide her team to the win.
A goal by Laskey gave the large campus team a 2-1 lead midway through the second quarter.
North scored late in the third quarter to start a comeback for the small campus team to narrow the deficit to 5-3.
