Oak Harbor High School’s national champion cheerleading squad is embarking on a journey this week that they hope will end with their second consecutive title.

Oak Harbor’s team is dominated by girl athletes, but also sports several young men on the 25-person squad and the quartet makes up an integral part of the team.

Don’t think that seniors Andrew Shumate, Tyler Theriault and C.J. Wong, along with junior Sam Zamzow, perform nothing but heavy lifting — that is guaranteed to earn a dirty look and could also result in you getting tossed in the air and dropped when a basket catch was intentionally missed.

All four perform tumbling routines just like the talented girls, in addition to providing muscle for the aerial stunts.

This is the first season all four have been together on the varsity team, but they all bring years of experience to the program.

Shumate and Wong have been varsity cheerleaders for four years and Theriault three, while this is Zamzow’s first season on varsity.

“I spent two years with Liberty Cheer,” Theriault said.

Zamzow also started out with the youth Liberty Cheer program. “I still cheer for Liberty in addition to being on the Oak Harbor team,” he added.

When asked why he chose to When asked why he chose to go into cheerleading, Shumate said with a smile, “It was for the girls.”

Maybe so, but he soon learned you have to be a dedicated student-athlete to be a member Oak Harbor’s cheerleading team.

In her 16th season as head coach, Pam Headridge said she has the young men and women practicing two hours a day, five days a week.

“I’m the one who cracks the whip,” she said with a smile. “It takes a lot of commitment to be on the team.”

Cheerleading is a funded sport at Oak Harbor High School, but the team also works hard to earn additional money.

“Our Spirit Fest in February raised about $200 per person that we are using to fund our trip to the nationals,” Headridge said. “The rest of the money like for the air fare and hotel rooms, the cheerleaders are paying themselves.”

Headridge said because the team is going to the state championship, Athletic Director Bob Smithson is using school funds to give them meal money and also paying for the charter bus to take them to Yakima.

The state and national championships provide a chance for the Oak Harbor team to strut its winning style, but it’s also a sad time for some of the cheerleaders.

“It’s kind of sad for me because this is my last year,” said senior Breanna Stanek, one of the Wildcats’ four captains. “I have been to the state and nationals four times, but I know this is my last trip. Still, I’m kind of looking forward to it. It’s going to be the best one ever, I think.”

Stanek said she is planning on going to culinary school in Arizona after graduation. Who knows, maybe people will be cheering for her food.

Junior Jordan Carlson, also one of the quad captains, said she is looking forward to the upcoming national competition as well.

“This is the third time I’ve been,” she said. “We won last year so that made last year’s trip really fun. We’re hoping to go in this year and win again and make this year even better.”

Cheerleading at Oak Harbor is not going to be the end of a career for the three senior boys.

“I have been accepted at U Dub, the University of Washington, and I plan to cheer for them,” said Wong, who is also an accomplished member of the Oak Harbor swimming team.

Theriault said he has applied at the University of Washington. “We’ll see if I get there,” he said.

Shumate said he also has plans on being a college cheerleader. “I’m thinking about applying at U Dub as well,” he said.

Who knows, maybe the three of them will be together on the sidelines cheering for the Huskies next year.

Right now, the state championships are on everybody’s mind, followed by the nationals in Anaheim, Calif.

Accompanied by the Coupeville team, the Wildcats leave at 10 a.m. Thursday, March 22, to go to Yakima for the state championships.

“We go straight from there catching a 6:30 a.m. flight on Friday to California,” Headridge said. “We have two stunt teams that perform a 12:30 and 1 p.m. Friday and the team performs Saturday. It’s going to be a long day.”

Headridge said the team is not going to spend the night in a hotel, but will go straight to the airport after Thursday’s performance at the state tournament.

“We won’t get done until after 9 p.m. so it makes no sense to go to the hotel and then turn right around and go to the airport. We’ll just stay there,” she said.

The plane leaves SeaTac Airport at 6:30 a.m., arriving in Los Angeles at 9:10 a.m. From there, it will be a quick dash to the hotel to change clothes and get ready for the competition.

Yes, it will truly be a test for the stamina of the team but as much hard work and dedication as the young men and women have put in on their quest for year another national title, it shouldn’t present any problem at all.

The Oak Harbor team performs in the preliminaries at 3:45 p.m. Saturday and the finals are on Sunday.

The teams return home on Tuesday.