The Baldwin competitive cheer team placed first in both gameday and mat divisions over the weekend at the South Hills Showdown at Bethel Park High School. 

Senior Julz Weiss sees early improvements in the team’s performance from the last competition. 

“I think we did notably better than our first competition due to having more confidence and getting used to the routine,” she said. 

Weiss said that on the gameday side, the team improved on their motions, sign work, and volume throughout the routine. The cheer section of the routine was the strongest because of audience participation, including the presence of Baldwin’s youth cheer organization, which competed at the same event. 

“The cheer was our strongest section at this competition because we had a huge fan section and they were all chanting back, making the cheer super loud,” she said. 

Senior Keira Kozak felt the team’s performance went well, despite a tough practice session before the event.

“I think the team felt pretty good going into Bethel. Our last practice before wasn’t very good, but we pushed through and got in good reps that were needed,” Kozak said.

Kozak is a part of the mat team, and she was mostly pleased with its performance.

“I felt pretty good after competing, although I did think we could have done better with keeping skills up in the air,” Kozak said.

The team’s next competition is this Sunday at Butler.