DeSoto Central cheerleaders repeat as national champions
There were national champions who arrived on a flight from Orlando, Florida to Memphis International Airport Wednesday. They were actually back-to-back national champs as the DeSoto Central High School cheerleading team and coaches came back to their families to celebrate.
DeSoto Central was named UCA National High School Cheerleading Championship Super Varsity Division I Game Day winners during the three-day event at the Walt Disney World Resort. The squad came to Orlando as Mississippi state champs.
It’s also the sixth national championship for the program, led by coach/sponsor Marie Harlow, coach/choreographer Joe Arkansas, and assistant coaches Janet Wolfe and Melanie Radidch.
It’s the eighth year for DeSoto Central to compete in this division of the competition, which involves actions and moves you would see done during a football game, for instance.
“Our first win was in 2018, the very first time we competed in the Game Day Division,” Harlow said. “We won that three years afterwards, making us a straight run of 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021.”
Arkansas, who does the choreography in his role as head coach, thought the Jaguars cheer team brought the energy that separated them from other schools.
“We would always bring our best energy and our best performance on Sunday,” Arkansas said. “We just really brought our best performance on Sunday and gave it all to the judges. Whatever the judges say to fix or improve to our routine we do it, and our routine from Friday to Sunday is not the same. We just give our all on Sunday.”
Arkansas added all three DeSoto Central squads, varsity, junior varsity and middle school, all qualified for the national event, which he said was, “quite a feat in itself.”
Harlow notes her team loses eight seniors for next year who will graduate but there are 20 freshmen already on the squad, making the future continue to be bright.
The Game Day division will continue to see DeSoto Central in the competition, but Harlow said her team will also take on a Spirit division next year.
“This will consist of a routine combined with cheerleaders and dancers,” Harlow said. “Hopefully DeSoto Central will be one of the first schools to make it to the top finals in that division.”
