Dolphin cheer has field day

Football was sidelined for the day as cheerleading took the field at

the 2001 Junior All-American Football Cheer Competition at the Santa Ana

Bowl. The event attracted more than 145 squads and 2,000 girls from 23

cities.

The teams demonstrated their skills in front of a capacity crowd of

6,000.

“This is the most fun we’ve had,” said Suzy Barna, conference

cheerleader coordinator for Orange County Junior All-American Football.

The Huntington Beach Dolphins sent seven squads to division

competition and had six of those squads place. Huntington Beach won

championships in the Jr. Pee Wee NFL and Midget divisions.

In one of the day’s toughest competitions, Huntington Beach’s Jr. Pee

Wee NFL squad, runner-up in last year’s national competition, had to

perform its routine twice and went on to finish third behind Mission

Viejo and Fountain Valley, with Corona placing fourth, following a

four-way cheer-off at the end of the competition that determined the

division winner.

Huntington Beach squads placed second in Jr. Clinic NFL, Clinic NFL

and Jr. Midget NFL, and was third in Pee Wee NFL.

“This is great. These girls worked so hard. It’s just fantastic,” said

Huntington Beach cheer coach Judy Coghill.