The Gretna Cheer Team returned home from Orlando, Florida, earlier this month from the UCA national competition. The cheerleading national championship quickly followed the UDA nationals for the Gretna Dance Team. Knowing that the Gretna dance team did well in its competition, team members said they were excited to compete and had high hopes of earning a national title.
Leaving Gretna on Feb. 5, and returning on Feb. 11, the cheer team came home with a third-place national title and claimed the spot as third-best in the nation with pride. The team went through practices while in Florida and advanced through the preliminary round-up through the semifinals and finals where they cheered against the narrowed-down and hardest competition. Also in Florida, the team went on a trip to Disney World and enjoyed themselves for a day in the heat.
The coaches also spent time with the team in Florida creating tighter bonds with every cheerleader. Several members of the group said that they were sad to turn back around and return to Gretna after enjoying the weather that they had not been able to see in Nebraska for a long time.
The Gretna Cheer team practiced harder and more often than people might expect, and they used their time to make sure that their goals were met and that the team was pushing to be the best that they could be. While practicing, the team created a close-knit bond. Senior Elizabeth Melton said she has an incredibly close relationship with the girls on her team and that bond means a great deal.
“I have been on the team with the girls in my grade for four years, and we have been through so much together,” Melton wrote in an email. “You spend so much time together being on the cheer team, so it bonds you for life.”
The team had been through an incredible amount together and it all started with tryouts this past year when the new freshmen took a step into the gym in hopes of becoming new Dragon cheerleaders. Since tryouts, the team has been in preparation for nationals. Now in late February, the freshmen said it went by in a flash and they can’t believe that the season has already finished. Freshman Kendyl Menichetti was placed on varsity at the start of the season. She said she enjoyed the experience of this year more than anyone could understand and she is more than excited to return for the 2025-26 season.
“I’m excited to return to Gretna Cheer, because I love everyone on the team, and it is so fun to travel with the team and spend time with them cheering on the sidelines of games. Overall, it is a great experience that I wouldn’t want to miss,” Menichetti said.
Team practices were put together and coached by Sarah and Zoe Chagnon. Zoe Chagnon cheered at Gretna High School when she was a teenager, and she said she is incredibly excited to be coaching the team that she was on previously in her life.
“Getting to coach the GHS cheer team means the world to me! I absolutely love cheerleading, so getting to coach and share my passion for cheer while helping athletes grow and develop skills and their own love for cheer is something I cherish,” Zoe Chagnon wrote in an email. “It is such an honor, and I am so thankful I get to coach at the school I cheered for when I was in high school! Coaching this team is one of the most important things in my life.” In Florida, after the team’s practice, Zoe Chagnon was surprised with a proposal from her boyfriend that included the whole cheer team. And what made the week even better was the team winning third in the nation.
“We get only three minutes in a routine to showcase a year of hard work, and we really showed it at Nationals,” Zoe Chagnon wrote. “Finishing 3rd in the Nation means way more than the medal … there were so many little goals we accomplished this season that got us there, and those are just as important. I am so proud of them.”
