In 2014 the Cambridge Sharks cheerleading team, coached by Ali Moffatt, Lora Jordan and Alana Potter, made history by winning a world championship and becoming the first international team to win the prestigious Level 5 competition.
They captured a second world title the following year.
In 2018 and 2019 they made more history, winning back-to-back world titles in the all-girl level 5 division with a score of 143.9 out of 150—the highest recorded for any of the teams in all divisions at the competition—while their Grey Reefs squad won silver at the championships, held in Orlando, Florida.
“I think the Great Whites kind of put us on the map and now all the other teams, the strength that we’ve shown top to bottom in our worlds program, has definitely kept us there and made a name for our Cheer Sport Sharks,” Moffatt told Times sports editor Bill Doucet.
Alicia Jantzi, Kiana Horchover, Jennifer Power and Sarah Schlotzhauer have been members of all four world championships teams from Cambridge.
During the competition at the Walt Disney World Resort, the Great Whites received a surprise visit from honorary Great White member Jenna Dowers, a North Carolina youngster who earlier met the team at their training facility in Cambridge as part of a Make-A-Wish request. The Sharks gained wide-renown during a Netflix series.
When the Great Whites captured the gold globe, Dowers was sized for her worlds’ ring.
The team seemed poised for a run at the world title in 2018 after finishing second the previous year and then going undefeated in Canada and with a win at the NCA All Star Nationals in Dallas, TX. Team member Emily Westerfelt was quoted in the Record after winning the 2018 world tite, describing the feeling as “indescribable.” She added: “It feels as if your entire dreams have come true and that you have been working so hard for this moment.”
In 2019 the Cambridge Cheer Sport Sharks sent five teams to the World Cheerleading Championships.