Gabrielle Garcia and Blake Smith, of Oregon, should have been on the winning sideline at the Super Bowl in Miami in early February.

After the game, they could have looked into the camera and said, “We’re going to Disney World!”

Indeed, Garcia and Smith, along with Kaelee and Chelsey Koester, of Oak Harbor, are members of the Level 5 cheerleading squad from Top Notch Cheer, located in Fremont, that qualified for the USASF Cheerleading Worlds competition April 22-26 at Disney World in Orlando, Fla.

Top Notch Cheer’s Level 5 squad, which includes girls from Oregon, Oak Harbor, Fremont, Toledo, Rossford and Findlay, qualified to the Worlds by placing second out of 15 teams at the Midwest Supernationals in late February at Nationwide Arena in Columbus.

“At that competition, everybody was just on,” said Gabrielle Garcia’s mother, Joell. “It was a perfect weekend. When they qualified, my daughter ran through the crowd and tackled me and said, “Mom, I can’t believe I’m going to Worlds!’ It was a goal they set, and they made it. It was awesome.”

Gabrielle, 13, an eighth-grader at Fassett Middle School, has been a cheerleader since age 5, and she began competitive cheering four years later.

Joell Garcia said it was “very emotional” watching her daughter and the rest of the Top Notch team qualify for the USASF Worlds.

“To be able to compete at this level at her age, it’s a dream come true,” Joell said. “We call this our ‘monster’ team at the gym. They are so talented and they work so hard, and they have had one injury after another. We didn’t think this was going to be in their cards.”

The rest of the Top Notch Cheer Level 5 team (ages 13-18), include Tori Cook, Monica Guzman, Bri Bodi, Jenny Best, Brittney Sayre and Jessica Boudreaux of Toledo; Brianna Pierce, Kaylee Myers, Jericha Martin, Cassie Woleslagel, Jen Kiser and Essence Price of Fremont; Aubry Strausbaugh and Kirstey Besgrove of Rossford; and Paige Otto and Carly Welch of Findlay.

More than 400 teams from 30 countries will compete at the Worlds, which will be televised on ESPN2.

“It’s a pretty huge deal and a pretty elite invitational,” Joell Garcia said. “You have to compete in different events throughout the year in order to be qualified to go. These girls have overcome a lot this year. This is the first time (qualifying) for this Level 5 team.

“In cheerleading, there are divisions from 1 to 5. Five is the hardest division to compete at; the most advanced. This World competition is the highest level of competition at which they compete. Our gym is the only gym from Northwest Ohio eligible to get a bid and even qualify.”

The Top Notch Cheer Level 5 team’s coaches include gym owner Kim Price, her son, P.J. Price, Clay graduate Brittney McLaughlin and Jeff Messner of Findlay.

“They’re very excited,” Kim Price said of the team. “We were very surprised how well they did. They’ve been working on a lot of stunts lately and adding difficulty to their routine. It’s taken a while to hit those at the competitions, but they finally hit at this last competition.”

Price said the Top Notch Cheer squad will compete against 70-80 other teams from around the world. “I’d like to see them make it to finals,” she said. “That would be really good for them.”
 Top Notch Cheer has been collecting sponsors to help the team pay for its trip to Florida.

“We’re doing a big fundraiser at Jed’s on Holland-Sylvania Road in Toledo on Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.,” Price said. “If (customers) mention Top Notch Cheer, 20 percent of the proceeds go to help the girls go to Worlds.”

For more information, contact Kim Price at Top Notch Cheer at 419-333-2000.

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