In its first competition of the season, the ACS Cheerleading Squad won first place at the ImpACT Competition, in the JV Intermediate Division, on Saturday, February 12 at the RWJBarnabas Health Arena in Toms River. This exciting win opened the door for the ACS squad to be invited to other competitions, including The ONE Finals national competition in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where ACS will compete on April 2-3.

Congratulations to our amazing squad of middle school and high school students that have reached this level of excellence, under the dedicated and experienced leadership of Head Coach Morgan Gibson, and Assistant Head Coaches Kelly Flynn and Michelle Wheeler. The squad has been practicing since last November and cheering at ACS basketball games. At the competition, the ACS squad competed in their division against five other high school teams from northern New Jersey.

“We’re just so proud of them” said assistant coach Flynn. “They worked so hard and earned this big win. We’re excited and are looking forward to the very prestigious national competition — The One Finals — in Virginia Beach.” Flynn said the cheerleaders plan to offer an intramural cheer program for younger students at ACS to help raise funds to pay for the squad’s way to the Virginia Beach competition. Other cheer fundraisers planned include an ACS Night of Bowling on March 18 from 4-7 p.m. and a Popcorn Sale of Chef Steve’s Popcorn.

The 23 students who are part of this year’s competition Cheerleading Squad are — Ashlee Alford, Ava Barberio, Annalena DiMaio, Rebecca DiMaio, April Eaves, Mackenzie Flynn, Makenzie Fresh, Kylie Jackson, Abigail Kelley, Rielly Kisielewski, Ava Lombardi, Autumn Loo, Kiara Loo, Ja’Niyah Martin, Jadelyn Maurer, Lydia McCarthy, Tara McCorkle, Heather Milstead,  Sophia Puglisi, Chelsie Richards, Haven Sanchez, Isabella Santos, and Makayla Tomlinson.