After a Covid-shortened season and the departure of Coach Laura Vasquez, the cheer program was looking for a fresh start to the new year. 

 Athletic Director Jose Gil  was in charge of hiring new coaches. The search took three months from May to July. Gil formed a committee of 10 people and researched the candidates in order to find a coach who could connect with the girls, Gil said, “The components that were important in the cheer advisor, [were] that they cared about the kids, invested time, energy, and effort.” Gil and the committee decided to hire the mother-daughter duo of Brianna and Dusti Fregoso.

The Fregosos are from Salinas and Dusti coached the Alisal Eagles since 2007. Coach Brianna is very happy to be coaching a new team, “I’m excited because they were very open and welcoming,” she said. Brianna is excited to see her cheerleaders develop, 

They plan to make this year’s team better by following basic rules and making sure their routines are executed perfectly. At the end of the day these coaches just want the cheerleaders to have a fun time at practice, 

With the changes of coaches, there is also a change of atmosphere. Senior cheerleader, Jacqueline Martinez said, “We can agree that both Coach Laura and Coach Bri gave us team bonding and an experience for cheer, of course Coach Bri has been part of Eagles, she brings a different spirit, which is nice to have throughout the four years I have been in the cheer program.”

The coaches are looking forward to a brighter future for the cheer program. “ I would like to go to competitions, I know this is my first year here, so I need to look into it and see everything we need to do to get into competitions,” said Dusti. “I [would] like taking our girls to competitions, and showing everyone what they can do,” Coach Dusti also wanted to get the cheerleaders into cheer camps in the future.