Tigers aim for national title

For the squad, which consists of Notre Dame High students from across all grade levels, it’s a time to prepare in hopes of keeping the reputation alive.

For co-captains Jessica Velarde and Christina Goultas, both 17, this is a chance to end their high school experience on top. Both girls were part of the last Notre Dame squad to win nationals, which took place their freshman year.

At the time, both were relatively new to cheer having only one year under their belt. Velarde was drawn to cheer through dance. Goultas had a cousin who worked with Head Coach Morgan Craig at his all-star gym.

Four years together and working with Craig means the girls are working hard but also beginning to prepare for an end.

"I can’t begin to imagine life without cheer,” Goultas said.

Velarde followed and added they’ll both be out of shape as a result.

Craig, who works out of his San Carlos-cheer gym Premier, has been coaching the girls at Notre Dame for eight years. This year, the dynamics changed from multiple squads to one varsity. The change has allowed Craig to choreograph one, top-notch cheer that can be tweaked until the girls hit the blue mat at nationals.

"It allows the girls to feel more confident; it gets in their muscle memories,” Craig said.

Squads who place first at a regional earn a bid to nationals, meaning the team did not need to compete in multiple events. Competing additional times allows the squad more competition practice and also judges’ comments used to tweak the routine.

Craig was particularly happy about the camaraderie amongst the girls this year, which he attributed to the range in ages.

"They’re like sisters. They’re just a big family, and they want it,” Craig said.

Wanting it comes at a price, which right now means conditioning in preparation of giving the two-and-a-half minute performance their all when in Southern California.  

So far, the squad has three first place trophies to show for the year. Their first win came in November in Fremont. Both Velarde and Goultas felt good about the routine, but thought the home team squad looked fierce. A repeat performance came at the USA Holiday Classic in Davis. Earlier this month, the girls took another first place in Antioch.

Goultas noted many squads openly discuss wanting to beat Notre Dame because of this year’s reputation.

Velarde added the three first place finishes has helped spread the team’s name, but that doesn’t slow down the preparation.

"We come in ready. We know we can’t be cocky about it,” she said.

Although the routine has remained the same, the performances have not. All the judge’s feedback gets put into action while the girls continue practicing areas they perceive to be weak.

"We’ve not yet had a perfect performance,” said Goultas.

Both girls look to the two final competitions with hope of keeping the undefeated title.

"We want to go out with a bang,” said Goultas. "We want to continue to succeed.”

Heather Murtagh can be reached by e-mail: heather@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 105.