CALLAHAN, Fla. – The West Nassau cheer team isn’t just good — it is a dynasty and the best program in Florida high school history.
“Our little four stoplight town, you just never would be thinking like oh as I’m driving through here, ‘wow I bet the cheer team here is good’,” West Nassau cheerleading head coach Samantha Beazley said.
Last Friday, the Warriors won the Class 1A medium non-tumbling division state championship, their 14th title and 11th in a row.
“I feel grateful that I’m able to be a part of such a great program because we come in day in and day out and we work so hard,” West Nassau senior cheerleader Connor Vilett said. “Being able to feel that gratitude, it’s full circle.”
When asked about the team’s decade-long success, coach Beazley emphasized the importance of the process and the legacy left by previous teams.
“I think a lot of where we’ve found success is when we come in every year, it’s a process,” Beazley said. “We know and we understand that we have big shoes to fill from the team, and the athletes, and the coaches that came before us.”
The goal each year is to win a state championship, according to Beazley.
“That’s absolutely the expectation,” Beazley said. “I think that people forgot how hard it is to win a championship. I always say it’s hard to win a championship, it’s even harder to repeat.”
West Nassau’s success isn’t just confined to Florida. They’ve won eight national championships and four world titles.
“Over the years we’ve competed against teams from China, from Jamaica, several teams from Canada, Brazil,” Beazley said.
The Warriors are hoping to add even more trophies to the case this week in Orlando as they compete in the National High School Cheerleading Championship as well as concurrently competing for another international title.
“Hopefully we can win four crowns this year,” Vilett said. “We’ve already won state so we got three more to go and I just hope that we can end this season with going all out.”
Their success is in large part due to the team’s chemistry and belief in one another.
“I feel like this is probably my first family before my second family,” Vilett said. “I spend most of my time with them. I obviously go to school with them and we’re hanging out even outside of practice.”
Now, 24 Warriors cheerleaders will be among the 25,000 hoping to continue their legacy as one of the best.