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CentralAthleticFeatureStory

By Randy Whalen

When Amanda Wisslead and Jairo Fonseca competed in competitive cheer at Joliet Central, they helped the team do very well.

Now, as the Steelmen co-ed cheer team coaches, they have the team on track to get back to those heights.

Joliet Central has been getting its name out there and doing very well this competitive cheer season. After a hiatus, the Steelmen will return to competition this weekend, on Saturday, January 18 at the Lockport Township Frost Invitational.

"It's my third year as a head coach and fourth total," Wisslead said. "We are working on getting the team more exposure. We went to camps over the summer and for the first year did overnight ones."

Those preparations and hard work paid off right away in competitions this season. The Steelmen took home a second-place trophy in their initial competition, on Saturday, December 14, at the Lincoln-Way Central Invite. 

The next day, Sunday, December 15, brought a trip south to the Bradley-Bourbonnais Invite. The teams' scores actually improved at that competition and they finished in third place.

"It's great," Lesly Villarruel said of the season so far. "We took second and third and we've put our name out there. I feel proud of the team and I'm really glad to be with all my talented teammates."

Villarruel is one of three seniors on the varsity squad. The others are Anahi Antonio and Jasmine Jimenez. Jamaria Holmes is a junior. Cesar Arciniega, Ashlyn Denson, Alfonso Duenez, and Johan Rodriguez are sophomores while Chloe Donaldson, Raul Hernandez, and Tremane Mackins are freshmen. 

Duenez is one of five guys on the team and loves the connection that they all have. 

"It was my best friend, Cesar, who told me about it," Duenez said, being a part of the cheer team. "It sounded like fun and I liked it. I love the bonds that I've built on the team and I love that we work together as one."

There are more good things to come too.

"I was super proud of the team at Lincoln-Way," Duenez said of the Steelmen second place finish. "We had an amazing performance and we worked so hard over the summer so it felt so good. I feel like we have to keep building off that and working to hit our goal of making it to state."

While the Steelmen didn't place in their most recent competition, it was still a special one. That was on Sunday, December 22 at the Joliet West Cheer Fest. 

"We had a lot of family here," Villarruel said of the crosstown invite. "It's my second year on the varsity and I'm really glad to be here with all my talented teammates. I started cheering with the football cheer team and I fell in love with the sport."

The only disappointing part of the Joliet Central performance at the Joliet West Cheer Fest was an issue where the music didn't start on time before the performance.

"We had a super solid performance," Wisslead said. "But we got a deduction for going overtime and lost a point."

Wisslead was a cheerleader for the Steelmen between 2014-18. Fonseca graduated in 2019 and helped Joliet Central to advance downstate that season. That was the first of two straight state appearances for the Steelmen, who paced seventh in 2019 and 12th in 2020. They also made it to state in 2012 and placed 23rd. All of those were in the co-ed competition.

"We're on our way to building that back," Wisslead said of the Steelmen reaching state level. "We've been seeing our scores improve and I feel there are so many different elements in it. We've been teaching harder skills and it's great to see the kids rise to that expectation."

The competitive season will wind down at the end of this month. On Saturday, January 25, Joliet Central will be at the Southwest Prairie Conference Meet, which will be hosted by Plainfield North. 

The Illinois High School Association State Tournament follows. After going to Mt. Vernon for the sectional last year, the Steelmen will have to travel again this season on Saturday, February 1, as they will be in the Co-Ed Divison of the Mascoutah Sectional. They are scheduled to perform at 5:50 PM.

The State Finals are on Friday, February 7, and Saturday, February 8 at Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington.

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