Coral Springs Charter School Finishes Second At State Cheer Competition

CORAL SPRINGS, FL – Coral Springs Charter School senior Chandler Gentile gave a pep talk to her cheerleading squad before they took the floor for their state routine on Friday.

“I just told the girls to leave it all on the mat,” said Gentile, who is a four-year member of the team and co-captain along with the team’s other senior Victoria Loffreda. “I told them no matter what we placed at the end of the day, we had the ability to hit the routine that we did today. I told them I believed in all of them.”

Coral Springs Charter School responded and placed second in the state in the Class 1A Small Varsity Division with 78.80 points, which was just behind winner Providence (79.50).

Gentile, who is also the school’s senior class president, said the runner-up finish also helped soften the blow of not being able to have a homecoming because of the Covid-19 pandemic. She was a freshman when the Panthers won the state championship and was third and fourth the past two years.

“Last year was a building year for us, but I believed we would do well this year,” said the 18-year-old Gentile, a Coral Springs resident. “I definitely thought we had a chance, especially with everybody coming back from last year. Being able to come back and do so well helped make up for not having a homecoming and some of the other things that we lost this year.”

Coral Springs Charter School coach Rachal Garris said the team faced many challenges this year, mostly due to the pandemic.

Yet the team saved its best for last.

“We had our best performance of the year,” said Garris, who is in her fifth year as head coach. “It was extremely difficult because we weren’t able to start practice until Thanksgiving and then the county shut us down for another two weeks until mid-December.

“We ended up doing a complete routine,” Garris added. “Chandler, being the senior class president, had to juggle a lot of things this year and Victoria, who is in her third year with us, have both been around the program since the eighth grade. This was the first time in the school’s history that we competed in this division, so I am very proud of what they accomplished.”