With their toes in the warm white sand, the Warriors gathered for a team photo in the shape of a V — for victory — before they run, hand-in-hand, into the ocean as part of the ritual.
 
The Stan State Cheer Team had just competed in the national championships event. These Warriors were victorious, in that, while they did not win a championship banner, they finished in the top three once again.
 
That was supposed to be the memory of the 20 young women on the Warrior Cheer competition team. Today, April 10, should have been the day they celebrated on Daytona Beach, with the Atlantic Ocean as the backdrop, for another job-well-done representing Stanislaus State on the national stage.
 
Instead, the trip and the event didn't happen due to the coronavirus pandemic sweeping across the globe. Like thousands of collegiate athletes in many winter and spring sports, these cheerleaders lost their opportunity to compete at a championship, or NCAA tournament.
 
 "At first it felt like (the trip) was being taken away from us because the event hasn't been canceled," said Taylor Ybarra. "Now that we've seen everything shut-down, we realized this is much bigger than just us. There are athletes all over the country who are also heartbroken because their seasons came to an end. When (nationals) was canceled, it finally set in that this is a serious thing."
 
This could have been a big year for all of collegiate competitive cheerleading. More mainstream eyes would have been on the championships event because of the Netflix series "Cheer," which showcased the hard work and extreme efforts it takes for cheerleaders to compete in Daytona.
 
This group of Warriors worked for eight months for their one moment to shine — a two-minute, 15-second routine on the iconic Bandshell stage under the Florida sunshine. They have trained since mid-July to prepare for summer camp, where they earned the bid to Daytona. They practiced every day during winter break to perfect tumbling passes, stunts and pyramids.
 
Most of the ladies on the team will be back next year. However, for six seniors on the squad, their cheerleading careers suddenly ended.
 
"It was just weird. (Cheer) was all I have ever known. To be told I wasn't allowed to compete, it was just weird," said Morgan Castaing, who has already returned home to Menifee to finish her mathematics degree, in three years. She will be in the credential program at Cal State San Bernardino as she works on being a math teacher at her high school.
 
Five of the six seniors were among the first group of Warrior cheerleaders to qualify for the National Cheerleading Association (NCA) Collegiate Championships in Daytona. They would have been the firsts in the program to advance to this competition during all four of their years on the team.
 
"It was such irony, that we went during our freshman year and now we didn't get to go for our senior year," said Caitlin Sanders, who will be moving home to San Diego to attend graduate school at Point Loma Nazarene, to be an Athletic Trainer. "It's more than just the competition, it's the whole experience and we would never be in a situation where we can do it together ever again."
 
"I just miss spending time with my team, my cheer family," said Ybarra, who graduates in the spring and plans on enrolling in the business administration master's program at Stan State.
 
As seniors with three years of Daytona experience, they all felt that they could have been a part of something extra special.
 
This group of seniors are the most decorated Warriors in the cheer program. Aside from Castaing, they were part of the first team to compete at the NCA Championships in 2017 when the Warriors finished sixth in their division.

 "(The national championships) is an unforgettable experience that I will remember forever. It is very bittersweet when thinking about not finishing my senior year there but I am grateful I have three other years to look back on," said Victoria Sandoval. "I'm also very grateful for the team that became family this year. For all the seniors there will be what if's but we all know we made the most of the time we were given this year."
 
As sophomores, with Castaing as a freshman flyer, these Warriors were part of the third-place team in the Division II Intermediate All Girls category in 2018. They hit-zero (no deductions in the routine) and upset some fully funded programs for that bronze medal trophy. Not bad for a club-sport team with $16,500 of annual funding.
 
The 2020 squad was looking forward to returning to that beach for some redemption after a ninth-place finish in 2019. The set-back was because a member suffered a major knee injury on the final warm-up mat, just before walking to the Bandshell stage.
 
With determination and perseverance, coach Mike DeGuzman and his team revamped the routine in an hour and got through the prelims. That same afternoon, they spent four hard-working, stressful hours designing a new routine for the finals the next day.
 
The Valley Tough Warriors walked away dejected but overcame the adversity and obstacles to still compete at the highest level. They were the only representatives from a four-year public university in California.
 
"Redemption was one of the motivations for this season. (Finishing ninth) wasn't the way we wanted and we know we are capable of more," said Stephanie Espinoza, a Kinesiology major who wants to be an ultrasound technician. With one year of classes remaining she is considering a return. "I wanted to finish off where I started and compete in Daytona again."
 
Tatyana Colindres, who works at a hospital in Pleasanton where a dozen COVID-19 patients are being cared for, still wants to be able to help the team represent Stanislaus State nationally.
 
"I am considering coming back because I feel like this team has a lot of potential. Next year will be a great opportunity for a redemption year for us to prove our skills," commented Colindres, who also has two undergraduate semesters left as she work towards a career as a surgical technician. "People underestimate Stanislaus for being a small D-II school. I would like to be a part of a team to make a name for Stan State."
 
Sandoval, a Kinesiology major, has one semester remaining and plans on attending med school at UC Davis to become a nurse in a neonatal unit.
 
"I would have loved to have finished my cheer career differently, but unprecedented situations like the current one we are in means that I need to focus on what I can control," Sandoval added. "I am currently trying to stay healthy with my family and focus on graduating and starting a career I'm passionate about."
 
For the returning Warriors, they will welcome a new crop of cheerleaders this summer once tryouts are permissible again when life returns to normal. And perhaps next April, the Stan State cheer team will return to Daytona Beach to run into the Atlantic, together, again.