Northgate High School wins Cheer ­championship title at Las Vegas ­Nationals

WALNUT CREEK, CA (Feb. 18, 2025) — The Northgate High cheerleading squad has been building over the past three years under the guidance of coach Karma Christensen and last month at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas they won the Varsity Sideline Performance Cheer Small School division at the JAMZ School Cheer Nationals.

The Broncos squad of 14 girls representing all four classes at the Walnut Creek school outpointed three other California teams to claim their division championship. The victory was especially sweet because the local team had always been outscored by Bishop O’Dowd and Vanden-Fairfield, who had been their nemeses in earlier competitions but lost this time to Northgate’s highest score ever.

For Las Vegas, Christensen made some last minute choreographic and athlete changes, which proved pivotal in their two routines. For Christensen, it was a double treat as her daughter Breanna was senior team captain and the coach got to call her mom about the title, remembering it was exactly 35 years ago when she won a national championship and celebrated with her mom.