The Dayton High School Cheer Team made history after securing three major championship titles in a national competition in Las Vegas.
The team competed against more than 200 teams at the JAMZ National Competition last weekend, and scored high across a number of divisions.
According to Cheer Coach Danielle Salamone, teams are ranked by size, and whether or not they are in the tumbling division.
Their first win of the weekend was to secure first place in the Level 1 Non-Tumbling Division, and later, Level Champions.
However, the biggest surprise of the championship was when the team was crowed Grand Champions of JAMZ, meaning they beat out every single team, in every size, in both tumbling and non tumbling division alike!
Salamone said she came into the position of coach with the Dayton Cheer team four years ago exactly with this sort of goal in mind.
“The girls are so easy to coach, because they have so much passion, drive, and determination,” Salamone said. “We’re in a really good place this year with the passion of the athletes, and because they share same goals we have as coaches.”
Salamone said when it comes to cheer competitions, scoring can be a bit complex. But they had a strategy that clearly paid off: when they would compete to a certain skill, they focused on maxing out their points on that skill, rather than worrying about the overall score or placement.
For example, a pyramid formation could bring a total score of 15 — Dayton scored 14.9 on their pyramid.
Salamone said everyone who comes to the JAMZ competition are very skilled athletes, but sometimes, a tenth of a point is the different between winning or losing, which is why the focus on maxing out the score cards.
“It’s all about execution,” Salamone said. “As coaches, we’re giving them the hardest skills they should be able to do, then we have to teach them, but they’re the ones who have to execute it, and that’s really where the athletes come into play.”
Salamone also credits the team’s success to their dedication to showing up — and to each other.
“Cheer is one of the sports where if we have one person gone at a practice, we can’t put a pyramid up,” Salamone said. “In football, basketball, volleyball, you have substitutes, but it’s different in cheer; we couldn’t go to Las Vegas with one less person.”
Dayton has a smaller student population, and with that, a smaller cheer team. While some schools may have teams that are only for lower classmen or higher classmen, Dayton’s team is made up of team members from every grade.
“It’s a very young team,” Salamone said. “Out of 24 total members, nine are freshman.”
Despite this, there is no hierarchies or “drama” within the team.
“This team in particular they just mesh so well together — they’re all friends. If there is drama I never know about it because they keep it off the mat. They just seem to really love each other regardless of their age.”
Salamone says this is how they were able to max out their scores and secure the championship.
“It really helps when you have a team that gets along,” she said. “Coaching them was easy because they’re so good to each other, every day they’re ready to cheer, and they’re all there for the same reason and the same goal.”
In total, they took home 1st Place in the Level 1 Non-Tumbling Division competing against 17 other teams with a score of 14.9 out of 15.
Next, they secured Level Champion with the highest score a 97.3 out of 100, going against 20 other teams.
Finally, with an “astonishing” grand score of 97.1, they were crowned the Grand Champions of JAMZ, ranking highest out of 200 total teams from across the nation.
“JAMZ Nationals is one of the most competitive cheerleading events in the country, bringing together top-tier teams to showcase their skills, precision, and teamwork,” said Skyler Tremaine, Lyon County School District PIO. “For Dayton High to sweep all three titles—division champions, level champions, and grand champions—is a historic achievement and a testament to their dedication, athleticism, and perseverance. Dayton High School and Lyon County School District commend the team for their extraordinary achievement and look forward to seeing them continue their success in future competitions.”
Congratulations Dayton Cheer Team!
