The reality was still sinking in for Chris Borzym.
One day after his Riverside Brookfield cheerleading team placed second in the Medium Squad state competition, the Bulldogs’ coach was still trying to describe the reality of the result.
“I just can’t even think of the right adjective for this,” Borzym said. “It’s just an excitement beyond compare.”
RB entered Saturday’s final round ranked fourth out of the top 10 teams with 87.24 points. A mere .84 points separated second-place Grant High School and fifth-place Prairie Ridge, meaning there could be some movement in Saturday’s final.
One of the Bulldogs’ judges commented that their Friday routine came off a bit flat, which could have been discouraging, but Borzym was encouraged. His team was able to use that critique and boost its energy level for the entire final round performance, and wound up raising its score to an 89.08, nearly a two-point increase.
The Bulldogs vaulted over Grant and Oak Forest to take second overall. Lemont won the state title with a 90.56.
Borzym credited the performance to the team’s hard work, a staple of the group all season long. That determination, the coach said, was sparked by the squad’s senior leadership, particularly four-year team members Rebecca O’Neal, Nicole Rocconi, Sabrina Schuppe and Victoria Zeman, as well as three-year participant Katelyn Castle.
“This is the hardest working group of kids that I’ve had in my years coaching at RB,” Borzym said. “They’ve spread that work ethic to the rest of the team. That was the key to their success. The kids wanted this so much that they worked without any question.
“They just worked and worked and worked, and wanted it to pay off.”
It did.
The second-place finish is the best in RB history. It also is the school’s fifth straight Top 10 performance in either Medium Squad or Coed Squad competition.
Borzym has seen that success translate into greater involvement in the program. When the team began competition in the 2005-06 school year, the first year the Illinois High School Association sanctioned the sport, 23 students tried out for the RB squad. This year that number was more than 50, and Borzym hopes Saturday’s performance will continue to push that upward trend.
“I hope it opens eyes in the community and that more kids will try out,” the coach said. “I think we’re really on the map now that RB is a legitimate powerhouse in cheerleading.”
