Rochester High cheer looks to get back to the top

ROCHESTER — The city of Rochester has established itself as the premier spot in Michigan for competitive cheerleading and Rochester High School is at the forefront of that charge.

According to the Michigan High School Athletic Association, the top three cheer teams in Division 1 are Rochester High, Rochester Hills Stoney Creek and Rochester Adams, respectively. In fact, the last time one of those three teams didn’t win the Division 1 state title was 2018, and the last time all three missed a top-two finish was 2014.

“We know how hard we’re working and that they’re working just as hard,” Samantha Koehler, Rochester’s coach, said. “We know that the competitions that we see — especially in our league competitions — we’re going to see the best teams in the state.”

A strong argument can be made that the three rivals from the same area also  happen to be the three best teams in Michigan, and that isn’t something that’s ignored.

“Because all three of the schools are grouped together into Rochester Community Schools, we just want to be the best,” Rochester senior captain Morgan Calcagno said. “We’re friends with some of those girls and we just want to be better than them.”

Aside from being part of the sports landscape, it could be said that the city of Rochester’s cheerleading scene has become part of the city’s culture. It’s now embedded into the town and it’s the place to go when looking for the best talent in Michigan.

“There’s a really nice camaraderie among us three teams even though we’re rivals,” Rochester senior captain Isabella Gungab said. “Even if we’re not competing directly against each other we still see the leaderboards and all the standings … So I feel like we’re using all of those to fuel our fire even more.”

In a competition that saw the three Rochester schools at the top and separated by just 1.62 points, Rochester High finished third at the Division 1 state finals last season, with Stoney Creek taking first. This year, Rochester is ranked as the top unit in the state heading into postseason play.

“We’re definitely taking it as a redemption year and a comeback year for all of us.” Gungab said. “Some of us were on the team from last year. We understand how that feeling was at states, so we’re really trying to bring it back this year.”

Aside from being fueled by losing out last season, coming away with a first-place trophy two years ago has also been on Calcagno’s mind.

“Isabella and I were both on the 2023 state championship team, so we know the feeling of winning a state title,” Calcagno said. “After last year’s loss, it was kind of a wake-up call. You can’t just float through it at state finals … Working hard is not enough, we have to push ourselves every single day to be better in order to ultimately achieve the end-goal of winning states.”

Rochester’s motivation to return to the top has led to two key differences from last year’s team, as attention to detail and student-driven leadership have been huge factors in what has been a phenomenal season for Rochester thus far.

Koehler noted that risk in the team’s motions, jump technique, stunting technique and “detailing out our tumbling” have been a focus this year that has been “noticed across-the-board.”

“We have really focused on the details,” Koehler said. “The senior leadership… everyone plays a role and everyone has gone above and beyond to push their teammates.”

Gungab and Calcagno have helped preach the importance of Rochester High’s cheerleaders having as much interest in winning as the coaches do.

“Something that we learned from last year is that we needed a little bit more senior leadership,” Calcagno explained. “It makes it seem that the whole team cares about how we do… We really want it.”

What Rochester wants to accomplish this postseason is not a secret. The team, undoubtedly, is looking to return to the top.

Koehler said that losing last year was a “horrible feeling.”

“But it’s something you don’t ever forget and it really fuels us, to chase the feeling of hearing your name called for first place,” she said. “We want the honor of hearing everyone else’s name called in third and second place, and then cheering when they hear ‘Rochester’ at first.”

The cheer state finals are set to take place Feb. 28-March 1 at the McGuirk Arena on the campus of Central Michigan University.