Coming off a season of tremendous success on the mats the Newtown Youth Cheerleaders are ready to make their marks yet again.

“This year, we are rolling out new competition uniforms for our nationally tracked teams — D14, D12, and D10. The uniforms feature a bold royal blue and lots of sparkles, bringing fresh energy and excitement to the program,” said Keil, vice president of cheer for Newtown Youth Football and Cheerleading.

In addition to cheering for the football players along the sidelines throughout the fall these girls will be doing tumbles, flips, and other amazing stunts as they try to repeat their impressive efforts in competitions.

In 2024, Newtown Cheer had four teams competing, and three advanced to Regionals in Massachusetts. “A big accomplishment that we’re very proud of,” Keil said. “We also had two teams compete in the Winter Cheer season.”

D14 had an incredible run, placing third at Youth Cheer and Dance Alliance (YCADA) Globals and first at the Northeast Challenge in their division. D10 also shined, placing second at the YCADA Globals, first at the Northeast Challenge, and earning both a Grand Champion Award and a Best Jumps Award.

The program has three competitive teams (D14, D12, and D10), plus the Hawklings (grades K–2), who will showcase their routine at three local competitions.

“We’ve also added a brand-new event to the schedule — The CT Strong Connecticut Fun Comp on October 4,” Keil said.

“We’re excited to see all of our athletes grow, improve, and shine this season. Even better, Connecticut is hosting Regionals this year, so all competitions will be local — except for Nationals,” Keil added.

“We are incredibly excited. This year, our parent league, Shoreline, introduced its first-ever Elite Teams, made up of top athletes from across all 18 Shoreline towns. Athletes tried out for two squads: a D14 Level 3 and a D12 Level 2,” Keil said. “We are proud to share that 13 Newtown cheerleaders accepted positions on these Elite Teams. These athletes will continue to compete with Newtown while also switching uniforms to represent Shoreline at the upcoming cheer competitions including the Nationals Competition in Florida the first week of December.”

Members of the Shoreline Elite Team are: D14 — Sawyer Gottschalk, Ellie Veneziano, and Hannah Bowen; and D12 — Maddison Vaccaro, Hayden Salinger, Brielle Keil, Brynn Clark, Camryn Potter, Cecily Auresto, Eleanor Driscoll, Eve Ramsdell, Lillie Dougherty, and Victoria Maklyan.

The Newtown program invites the entire community to its Friends & Family Showcase at NYA Sports & Fitness on Thursday, October 2 starting at 8 pm. “This free event is the perfect chance to see all four of our cheer teams perform their routines at their final practice before competition season officially kicks off,” Keil said.

The competition schedule is as follows:

*CT Strong Connecticut Fun Comp – October 4 at Shelton High School

*Locals – October 18 at Pomperaug High School in Southbury

*States – Sunday, November 2 at Southern Connecticut State University

*Regionals – November 8–9 at Mohegan Sun (must place in top three at States to qualify)

*Nationals – December 3–6 at Silver Spurs Arena, Kissimmee, FL (must place in top three at Regionals to qualify).

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.