The City College cheerleaders achieve success despite seemingly endless misfortune. Halfway through the season their luck may have finally turned around.

The Vaqueros finished first at the King of the Bleachers competition on Feb. 20, and second in their division at the U.S.A. Nationals in Long Beach.

“The girls’ strength is definitely ‘cleanliness,’ they have the ability to make their routine look smooth and fluid,” coach Coral De Alba said. “We really need to work on our tumbling though, that’s where we lose out to a lot of these four-year universities.”

This Spring’s competition season only has two more events, both of which will see the City College cheerers matched up against four-year schools.

Since community college students generally stay around for just two years, it is difficult to maintain a talented squad.

“We don’t get many returns,” City College cheerleader Tianna Carroll said. “It feels as if we are constantly starting over.”

This disadvantage is even more amplified because of an array of injuries the team has had to overcome.

There were 26 women on the team’s original roster; that number has dropped to 18 since, only three returning.

Competitions usually feature between 25 and 35 cheerleaders.

Each team performs as a group but also separates into sub-groups to perform the high-flying stunts and acrobatics that the sport is known for.

To make up for a smaller roster, the team uses three stunt groups whereas other schools are working with five or seven.

Erica Allbritton has been on the team for the past three years.

“Sticking our stunts has become the main focus this season,” said Allbritton.

The performance looks worse when a smaller squad messes a stunt up, as opposed to a team with seven stunt groups.

“In practice we haven’t been hitting our stunts,” Allbritton said. “But when we get to competition everything seems to fall into place.”

The squad also prepares by reviewing the tapes and judges critiques from previous competitions.

King of the Bleachers was the first competition of the season.

“We went into it really nervous, we hadn’t been doing as well as we had hoped,” said Allbritton. “We treated it like a test or trial.”

The Vaqueros first place finish squashed anxiety that formed before the official start of the season.

“Throughout the season we’ve been losing and gaining girls,” said Allbritton. “Can’t’ is a word that we have all had to force out of our vocabulary.”

Coming off the win at King of the Bleachers the Vaqueros went into U.S.A. Nationals with a newfound confidence. Their performance earned them second place.

The next competition is the West Coast Championship that will take place on March 19 in Irvine. The season concludes with the Best of the West on March 20 in Long Beach.