The cheerleading team strove for success, placing eighth at States on November 22 at Algonquin.

The dedication and ownership that each cheerleader put into their competition was resounding through their execution of their routine. The girls placed eighth out of fourteen in the division one State Finals with Bridgewater Rigam taking the State title.

“Our performance at states was one of our best yet. We all did the best we could and it was really disappointing when we didn’t get the bid to nationals. I think a high point for all of us was being in our own gym on our own mats,” sophomore Paige Albert said.

The time and effort put into the competitions takes devotion and many team members believe that they receive little credit for all their hard work.

“I don’t think that we get enough credit for what we do. We work harder and longer than any other sport,” Albert said. “Our season starts before other fall sports do which is in June and then continues all throughout the year and into March if you continue in winter cheer.”

“I feel like people at this school see cheerleading as more of a joke, and think we only cheer at football games, but it’s way more than that,” senior captain Meredith Smith said.

Besides cheering on the football players at games, the girls are fully involved in competitions on Sundays, and are committed to their training and practices.    

The team is in the division one league, which is the strongest and most difficult division to be involved in.

“The difficulty is definitely harder now that we are in the best division, and there’s a lot of pressure on us to do well,” Albert said.

The team is held to high standards at their competitions.

“The judges are looking for a routine that has the highest level of difficulty performed by the highest percentage of the team possible and with the best degree of execution,” coach Bonnie Flanagan said. “It is a combination of difficult skills and the proficiency and consistency at which the skills are performed.”

The team is trying to see past the potential rivalries and improve their skills to be the best that they can be.

“There are teams that we have formed rivalries with and we try to strive and do better than the other teams,” sophomore Nicole Wales said. “We’ve improved tremendously, so we’ve caught up to the other teams. Now we feel like we’ve gained a ton of confidence, and as if we could beat these teams, and it is possible now, before it felt impossible”.

According to Albert, many students don’t know what a competition is like.

“A lot of people don’t understand that we have a routine that we compete; we don’t just compete our cheers from the sidelines for football. We work on everything from pyramids, tumbling, jumps, stunts, to voice,” Albert said.

Their two and a half minute routine consists of evaluation on dancing, cheering, stunts, execution, and overall appearance.

“In other sports, the point is to score a goal and you gain a point, but in this sport, the judges give the points,” Wales said.  

Wales acknowledged that at times the judging could be biased or judges could show favoritism which can add additional stress.

“The day of a competition, everyone is a little stressed out,” sophomore Kimberly Skinner said. “While we wait to compete, the coaches give us a pep talk to pump us up, and we all just try to maintain ourselves as much as possible before going onto the mat. But once we step onto the mat, it is such an adrenaline rush to run out and seeing everyone including the judges just staring right back at you.”

Cheerleading consists of many responsibilities and challenges.

“Since we’re basically a family, we really had to earn each other’s trust,” Wales said. “After all, we do throw girls up in the air hoping that we will catch them on the way down. Now that takes a lot of trust and hard work. It’s really dangerous when you think about it though, like we are throwing real people into the air, while they are counting on us to catch them and not fall. It’s our responsibility to watch over each other so no one will get hurt.”

After a long and exhausting day, the team still looks to one another in a time of need.

“After a long three hour practice, sometimes you get a little discouraged, and seeing that everyone in the room is there for you, really helps to just keep us going,” Smith said.

“The team is extremely close, I came into high school knowing no one, and having my team and coaches to fall back on was the best thing I could ask for,” Albert said. “We’re really like a family, and I don’t think you could ever find a better group of friends that I would be with.”

The athletes also depend on their coaches for support and guidance.

“All of my coaches are really supportive and understanding,” Skinner said. “They are so easy to talk to and really help us through any problems we are having. They are just amazing people and I could not have asked for better coaches.”

“There will be highs and lows, successes and failures, pain and triumphs in every season,” Flanagan said.