In a final tuneup before the USA National Championships in Anaheim, Calif., the Oak Harbor Wildcat cheerleaders made it four in a row by winning the small co-ed division at Power Nationals at the Tacoma Convention Center on Saturday and Sunday, March 1 and 2.  

This open competition was a two-day event.

All of the teams performed on both days and the cumulative score determined the winner.

The Wildcats had an averaged score of 81.7 points, to beat out Parkrose High School from Oregon that finished a distant second with 65.3.

On Saturday, Tracy Vessels and Briana Sokoloski competed in the Individual category with Vessels beating out Sokoloski by only one point to win.

“It was close, but they but gave it their all,” said coach Pam Headridge.

Also, the stunt team of Ashley Parish, Shannel Girton, Vessels, Meghan Rikard, and Willysha Shaw easily won the all-girl stunt division, beating the stunt team from South Umpqua High School in Oregon.

Headridge said the Power Nationals was the last competition for the Wildcat cheerleaders before they head off to USA Nationals early this morning — and it was an early departure from Whidbey Island.

“We leave here on the bus for Seattle at 2:30 a.m. and we arrive in California around 11 a.m.,” Headridge said.

Fortunately, the Wildcats do not have their first performance in the competition until Friday.

“This gives us some time to acclimate to everything and we are planning on having a play day and visiting Disneyland,” Headridge said. “We have to come back late Sunday after we perform because the sophomores have to take the WASL test on Monday.”

Oak Harbor will compete in the co-ed team division as well as the five-girl stunt category on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Headridge said the Wildcats will be taking 18 cheerleaders, seven chaperones and two coaches to the competition.

Making the trip but being unable to compete due to a broken thumb is sophomore Rebekah Nickerson who said she is excited about going even though she can’t perform.

“We were stunting and one of my teammates dropped me, that’s how I broke my thumb,” she said. “It’s going to be fun going to California and I can’t wait until next year.”

This year’s national competition will be the final trip to California as high school cheerleaders for senior captains Parish and Girton.

“For me, it’s not going to be a sad time,” Parish said. “I’m looking forward to seeing how the team does and hoping to set the bar up higher for next year.”

Girton said this is not her first trip to California for national competition.

“This is my first year doing competition on the high school team, but I was a member of Liberty Cheer and we competed in the nationals,” she said.

Girton said she is planning on hanging out with the family while she is in California. “This will be like the last family vacation before I go off to college,” she said. “I’m not sure where I’m going yet, I’m still looking around.”

The third captain is sophomore Rikard, who said she was on the varsity team last year as a freshman.

“Me and my parents are planning on taking a trip to Mission Beach while we’re in California,” she said. “Then I have to come back and take the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL), test. It’s a requirement for graduation.”

“I feel very confident with our routine,” Headridge said. “I know if they nail all their stunts and tumbling, they could bring home a national title.”

Last year, the Wildcats brought home the fourth-place trophy from the USA National Championships.