On Oct. 29, 2014, the Bel Air High School Cheerleading team traveled to HCC APGFCU Arena to host and compete in the first UCBAC Cheerleading Competition. For the first time ever, Harford County and Cecil County cheerleaders joined together to compete. The top 3 from Harford County and the top 2 from Cecil County would move on to Regionals, but only the team with the highest score would become the UCBAC Champions.

“It was really interesting and something new that I think everyone had a lot of fun with. It gave all the teams some new competition and it was fun to meet the Cecil County cheerleaders,” said Sophomore Sydney Gillis.

Preparing for this competition was more nerve-wracking than others because instead of being county champions, the cheerleaders had their eyes set on receiving the UCBAC title. There were some teams they had yet to compete against such as Harford Tech and Patterson Mill, who were both top contenders as well.

“Through tears and hard practices, we managed to pull together and do what we came to do,” said Senior Jenny Smith.

Smith and the rest of the Varsity cheerleaders knew that the bumps and obstacles they had to get over were past them when they finally heard their names called for UCBAC Champions. The team won with a score of 123.7 out of a possible 130, beating the runner-up, Harford Tech, by 1.2 points.

“It was such a surreal experience [hearing our name called], and so rewarding as well,” Junior Annie Zaborowski said.

Along with Bel Air, other teams going to Regionals include Rising Sun and North East from Cecil County and Harford Tech and North Harford from Harford County. North Harford, going to Regionals for the first time in their school’s history, scored higher than both Patterson Mill and C Milton Wright, who are usually the biggest competition in the county.

Varsity was awarded a blank plaque that is titled “UCBAC Fall Cheerleading Championship”, which will soon feature Bel Air’s name as the first team to win the prestigious title.

“My favorite part from this competition was winning. Plain and simple—it was incredible,” said Senior Ashley Trzepkowski.

The next competition will be Regionals on Saturday, Nov. 8, at North Point High School. The top 8 teams from there will move on to States.