Tears already burst through some of the Meade cheerleaders’ faces when, behind them, perennial county power Chesapeake collected its silver medals.
Some let screams out; junior Karina Burgman copped to one of them. Others tilted their head toward the ceiling, mouthing pleading prayers.
The Mustangs were the smallest of the top six teams in the Anne Arundel County winter cheerleading championship, especially when compared to the second-place Cougars and third-place Glen Burnie. Chesapeake possessed so many glittering blue figures that it could choreograph three simultaneous pyramids while another girl stunted in front of them.
Only nine girls wore Meade black and purple, gripping each other’s hands tightly as the announcer called:
“With a score of 118.55 and receiving gold medals, congratulations to the –”
The screams of the nine cheerleaders, the junior varsity team and coaches nearly drowned out “the Mustangs of Meade High School.”
“I was so scared,” Burgman admitted. Though confidence struck the junior, the eldest of three sisters on the team, the moment she hit her last move of the performance, waiting for the confirmation felt “nerve-wracking.”
“I didn’t know if we were gonna get called or not,” Burgman said. “But, we were gonna get called.”
Though this was the program’s first county title in the winter, it was the second overall.
Months after claiming their first county title in history in the fall, the Mustangs earned last winter’s state title with slightly more numbers and a show-stopping illusion that made the cheerleaders appear to hit slow-motion. Five members of that team are now seniors.
“They wanna run it back one more time,” Meade coach Tierra Snowden said.
Only two of the Burgman sisters, Karina and Karin, were on varsity then. This was their little sister Karissa’s first gold.
“I was thinking about how crazy it would be to go back to school and walk in being a county champion,” Karissa, a freshman, said.
Snowden admittedly didn’t think her team would top the county back in the fall 2024. But ever since they did, her Mustangs have constantly worked to prove that Meade cheerleading’s success couldn’t be contained to one season or school year.
“We knew we had the talent. We knew we had the routine. But when you’re constantly going up against these bigger teams that are constantly taking first place, you gotta add a little umph,” Snowden said. “Umph sets us apart. We’re gonna entertain you from the moment we hit the mat ‘til we get off. Every bit of energy, we’re gonna pull out. That’s the Meade pride.”
Karin, a sophomore and flier, didn’t feel like she and her little team could compare in the judges’ eyes to a well-stocked team like Chesapeake. In fact, they barely did, only earning 0.40 more points than the Cougars.
But with a small team came a massive responsibility to hit every single step as flawlessly as possible.
“We really drilled on being super clean when we’re stunting, staying in the same spot without [straying] one way or another,” Snowden said. “Our goal was to be intentional with this routine.”
The Mustangs do not plan to stop at a county title.
“We can do anything,” Karina said. “We got it.”
Glen Burnie finished third with a score of 117.7 while Northeast finished fourth (115.6).
Severna Park earned fifth (112) and Arundel placed sixth (109.4).
South River withdrew during the competition due to a medical emergency. The Seahawks hope to compete at the Baltimore County championships next week for a regional-qualifying score, so long as their teammate returns healthy and barring any extended snow breaks.
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