With 14 people on the varsity team, Ludlow High cheerleading travels to places all over Western Mass to compete for the win. In addition to competing with other cheerleading squads, they also cheered over the winter at the varsity boys basketball games.

Ludlow Cheer competed mainly at Chicopee High, Holyoke High, South Hadley High and Chicopee Comp. Every year they compete at a different school for States and Western Mass.

According to Captain, Senior Michelle Almeida, Hampshire regional is Ludlow’s biggest competition and they lost to them at Western Mass by .25 of a point in 2011.

“This year we’re trying to get a lot more tumbling than previous years and keep having fun and to not get caught up in just winning,” said Almeida.

Last year, Ludlow Cheer went undefeated with six competitions including Western Mass.

The cheer team practices their stunting, jumping, conditioning and dances/cheers for two-and-a-half hours, four nights a week.

At the competitions the team performs a two-and-a-half-minute routine consisting of dancing, stunting, and cheering.

As dedicated and hardworking as the cheer team is, unfortunately many of the cheerleaders claim to get no respect, and cheering isn’t considered a “sport” here at Ludlow High, said Senior Alexis Holdsworth

Recently, LHS cheerleading traveled to Hoosac Valley Regional High School to compete to make it to Western Mass. The week of the 17th they had competitions and they received first place for all four of them.

The cheerleaders were judged on things such as jumps, stunts, and their choreography. Also they were judged on the difficulty level, timing and spacing of the group.

“Competitions went great, we scored highest out of all years,” said freshman cheerleader, Jennifer Fish.

LHS cheer got first place at Western Mass on Sun. March 5. They received a score overall of 68.5 and beating their rivals, Hampshire Regional, by 25 points.

“Through everything we have become a family and cheerleading definitely teaches you to reach for your goals, we did, we won Western Mass.,”said Fish.

The LHS Cheer Team had their last competition on Sun. March 10 at Tantasqua Regional High School and they placed 10th in the state