The Loyola competitive cheer team wrapped up their 2025 season after competing in the Southern States Athletic Conference Championship in Decatur, Alabama.
The team finished with a new program record, earning the highest score in the history of Loyola’s program.
“We got an 88.4 I believe, at regionals a couple weeks ago which is the highest score that cheer has earned, ever,” mass communications freshman Alyvia Pierson said. “So I would say that’s a really big accomplishment, especially knowing that we lost like half of our team and we had some injuries occur.”
This final regional performance of the season was a personal highlight for Pierson.
“We hit the routine clean and it was flawless,” Pierson said. “The energy was high, the vibes were good, all the things, the judges loved us. We had big sportsmanship amongst the other teams that were cheering each other on. It was just like a really good time to be there with everybody in that moment.”
But the road to regionals wasn’t always smooth sailing.
Captain Gabrielle Kliebert is a graduate student, competing in her fifth and final year on the cheer team. Despite challenges that were presented throughout the season, pushing through as a leader was important not only for her to keep going but also for her teammates.
“We started with a roster of like over 20 and we ended with 11,” Kliebert said. “So that’s like a big time, like, little time, lots of people leaving. So I feel like keeping myself in it as much as I wanted everybody else to be in it, that was challenging because I wanted to give up sometimes too. But then I had however many teammates looking up to me, so that kept me pushing forward.”
After overcoming the challenges, Kliebert said she knew the end result would be worth it for the whole team.
“I told them that, once we get to competition season and we start traveling and competing, it’ll all be so worth it,” Kliebert said. “And then after we went the last time hearing all the freshmen and people who competed for the first time say that, I’m like, okay, now I can leave in peace.”
For Pierson, the adjustment of balancing cheer and academics was a daunting task, but one that she figured out how to balance.
“Coming in, having the 5:30 a.m. practices, having most of our weekends taken up, doing volunteer things, recruitment clinics, various different things,” Pierson said. “It was very daunting coming in as a first year, who isn’t from New Orleans, who never has been to college before, the first time living on my own. So having to deal with this extra load on top of academics was very daunting to deal with. But I just took it in stride, I just tried to make sure I stayed organized.”
According to Kliebert, the program record wasn’t the only notable improvement that could be seen over her years on the team.
“I think that they’re highlighting points from last year versus this year, but from three years ago where we had, like, the head coach just for one year, our score jumped from over 20 points, which is insane to me in cheerleading,” Kliebert said. “That’s really hard to do, especially in three years. So definitely watch out for Wolf Pack cheer because they’re coming and I’m forever going to support them.”
