High school stunt team wins at CIF Central Section
The PRHS stunt team after winning the CIF Central Section championship. Photos by Monica Stephenson.
State competition available to livestream
– The Paso Robles High School (PRHS) stunt team won the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division One Central Section championship during their competition on May 3 and 4. They now advance to the CIF state tournament on May 10 and 11.
“I would love for the community to know how dedicated these athletes are to their sport and the program. In our pre-season, we practice five days a week and the athletes balance school and sports every day. Most of my athletes also compete on the competition cheer team in the winter and have a brief moment where they are balancing two sports at once. They have given so much to this program and have bonded as a team this year,” said head coach Vanessa Espinoza, who has coached the stunt team for two years.
Athletes from the PRHS stunt team.
During the CIF Central Section tournament, PRHS played against Atascadero High School in the semi-finals and won 13-10. The final game was against San Luis Obispo High School; they tied 12-12 and went into overtime, where PRHS scored enough points to win 14-13. Espinoza notes that “it was [an] amazing performance by SLO and Paso and the anticipation of the points was phenomenal.” The PRHS stunt team competed in quarters of partner stunts, pyramids and tosses, jumps and tumbling, along with combinations.
“One thing I can take from this year was all the giggles we were able to have as a team while winning together. It will be tough to say goodbye to the phenomenal seniors we have this season but I cannot wait to see what their final games as a Bearcat brings them,” Espinoza said.
The scoreboard from the final game at the CIF Central Section championship.
The stunt team is composed of 24 athletes and one team manager. They were undefeated this season and seeded first in the league. This sport has been at PRHS for over five years.
The PRHS team will play their first round of CIF state against West Park High School on May 10 at 5 p.m. at Clovis North High School. If they win, they will play against California High on May 11 at 9 a.m. A livestream can be found on Instagram here.
