‘A team that never got the chance’: Why University High School cheer qualified for nationals but didn’t make the trip

It wasn’t talent or discipline that kept the University High School cheerleading squad from competing at nationals this weekend in Southern California.

Instead, poor communication and a lack of funds prevented the senior-dominated varsity team from making its first appearance at the national competition, according to the Central Valley School District.

Several student-athletes and parents are outraged the youth were unable to make the trip, blaming the athletic department and principal for what they described as a lack of communication and support for the cheer coach and parents.

“The administration handled this the worst, poorest way possible, and now nothing can be done,” said Micaela Martinez, mother to senior cheer stuntman Marquez Martinez. “The (cheerleaders) have given everything they’ve had to this, everything, and now some of these kids will never get this opportunity again.”

The team learned it qualified for the national competition Dec. 12 after submitting a video of their routines to judges. The video earned them first place among schools that applied in 10 Western states, according to parents.

“I feel like the University Titans could have came home with a national championship,” said Jayden Cox, University High senior stuntman.

Now, Cox, who hopes to cheer at Arizona State University, said he’s upset he won’t get that chance.

For high school teams, USA Spirit Nationals started Thursday and ends Monday at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.

With about two months between finding out it qualified for nationals and the actual competition, the University High team knew it had a short time to raise a significant amount of money.

Marla Nunberg, school district spokesperson, said the team had $17,000 from fundraising or money already in its account, but needed about $50,000 to make the trip. With limited funds and time, Nunberg said only some of the student-athletes would be able to make the trip, which she said wouldn’t be fair.

School administrators asked head cheer coach Kenny Larios to “pause” the fundraising efforts to go to nationals because of the expense.

Nunberg said there was a “misunderstanding,” and Larios canceled the plans to go to nationals. Larios declined to comment for this story and has since resigned from his coaching role.

“I don’t know his reasons for resigning,” Nunberg said. “That was his choice.”

University High Principal Rob Bartlett referred questions to Nunberg, and athletic director Brandon Deyarmin could not be reached by phone for this story.

Nunberg said the school district pays expenses for district and state competitions, but it’s up to the coach and team to figure out ways to fund expenses for nationals.

Some parents, including parents of seniors, have reached out to school administrators and addressed the school district board at a recent meeting trying to understand what went wrong and expressing their frustration.

“Of course, they want their senior to go, and this is their chance to go,” Nunberg said. “But it’s just kind of all the factors put together. So, it is disappointing, but maybe, perhaps, if they thought they were doing well, they could have been fundraising in advance.”

Parents said they got together and developed a plan to raise the money, but never had the chance to execute it because of the pause in the application. They said there was no time to pause and assess because they were already short on time to raise the money and every day that passed, hotels and airline tickets would get more expensive.

In addition to fundraising, parents said practices and a competition were also canceled during the “pause,” and they never received an explanation.

“I have never in my life seen a group of parents be so dedicated to a team,” Micaela Martinez said. “So, I would have bet money that all of us parents would have done whatever was necessary for us to make sure that those kids went to nationals, that they had money to go to nationals.”

Micaela Martinez said Larios canceled his team’s nationals appearance to give other teams in the country who were able to compete the chance to go to Anaheim.

Parents, like Maryanne Watson and Patches Cox, said this would not have happened if the school’s football team, or another more popular sport, reached a national competition.

“It’s because it’s cheerleading,” said Patches Cox, mother to Jayden Cox. “It’s very frustrating.”

Micaela Martinez and Patches Cox said they were heartbroken that their sons were unable to go to nationals.

“I have seen him shed tears more often these last couple of months than I ever have,” Micaela Martinez said. “He made a comment about how their team’s tagline was, ‘A team that never got the chance.’ And it just broke my heart when he said that, because that is how not only he feels, but a lot of the rest of his team feels.”

Patches Cox said her son also wants to cheer at college, and the nationals appearance would have been a great opportunity for college coaches to see him.

“It was taken from him,” she said.

Micaela Martinez said she booked a flight to California, but was able to be reimbursed. Other families weren’t so lucky.

Maryanne Watson, whose sons Eli and Benson Watson are on the team, said her family was able to cancel their hotel and rental car, but was only partially reimbursed for their flights.

Suzanne Groves, whose son Tristan Groves is a senior stuntman on the team, said she and her family had already booked flights and an Airbnb in California, and decided to turn it into a family vacation instead of lose money by canceling. The Groves family, who brought Marquez Martinez with them, went to Disneyland on Thursday.

“It really stung being at Disneyland yesterday and seeing all the cheer teams, and they all had matching clothes and matching Mickey (Mouse) ears,” Suzanne Groves said. “And I was so glad they have their district support, and I don’t understand why our kids didn’t.”

Mead and Ferris high school cheer teams competed this weekend at nationals.

Suzanne Groves said the school administration handled the situation poorly.

“There’s no reason our kids should have this opportunity taken from them if administration was supporting our coach and performing their job well,” she said. “This is a clear failing of the administration, and I can’t wrap my head around why they did not give our kids a chance.”

Micaela Martinez said the administration also “failed” Larios, a new coach to the program.

“He had never been to nationals before,” she said. “That is, to me, what the administration is there for, is to support the teams, the athletes, the coaches. That is what they’re there for. And I feel like they 100% failed the coach and the kids. And realistically, the only thing they actually did was they got in the way of these kids going to nationals.”

Eli Watson, a senior stuntman, said he wished the administration would have given his team the chance to raise money for the competition.

“So, while the team really wanted this, we really never got the chance,” he said.

He said placing first at regionals showed his team they could have performed extremely well on the national stage.

“That’s why it really broke our team to know that we never got the chance,” Eli Watson said.

His younger brother, sophomore Benson Watson, was also disappointed the national competition was “ripped” from his team, especially the 19 seniors who make up over half the team.

“Now, there’s going to be just a ton of seniors that didn’t get to experience this when they had the chance,” he said.

None of the cheerleaders or parents blamed Larios. Instead, they praised him.

Micaela Martinez said Larios is an “amazing person” who dedicated his time and effort to the team in his few years as coach.

“That program has grown into what it is with him being there,” she said.

Maryanne Watson said she, other parents and student-athletes love Larios, who she said built the team.

“We absolutely adore him, and he will be a forever friend to our family,” she said.

Micaela Martinez said she hopes this never happens to a University High team again.

“I don’t care if it’s cheer, I don’t care if it’s basketball or wrestling, I don’t ever want this to happen to anybody else,” she said. “So somebody needs to be held accountable for this. They need to learn from the mistakes that were made, so this never happens to any of these kids ever again.”