By Tanisha Singh | Staff Writer

Irvington’s cheerleading team has qualified for Nationals. The team has placed second twice before at nationals in previous years, but this might be their chance at the first place title.

In order to get to Nationals, teams must score a certain amount of points. Lauren Mattingly, Irvington cheerleading co-cheer coach, explained how the team has autoqualed or  met the point requirement needed to be eligible to compete at Nationals.

“We need 75 out of a 100 possible points to autoqual, but we scored well above that. All their hard work really paid off to get them to nationals,” said Mattingly. “Now we have to attend a few more regionals, which will basically be practice for nationals, and then attend states as well.”

Although Irvington cheer still has two more regionals to attend, they have covered the amount of points needed to qualify for Nationals in their first regional tournament.

Ms. Mattingly said, “In the past couple of years, Irvington has done really well at states. Last year, we won first place so there is a little pressure because the team does want to defend the title.”

Regardless of the pressure, the team is working hard to be successful at Nationals which will be held at the Anaheim convention center in Los Angeles.

“There are not many changes to practice besides the fact that the team has to put in more time now because it is basketball season,” said sophomore cheerleader Kelly Nhan. “There are two games a week so it gets a little complicate when we have that. Now we have to do practice five days a week, but we’re all really excited for Nationals.”

Additionally, on December 13, 2015, Irvington cheer will participate in their second regional competition at James Logan High School. The more cheering the audience does while watching their routine, the more points the team earns.