Chase stadium’s freezing temperature heated up when the girls took the mat on Jan. 20 for the AIA state championships. Having an uneasy start of dropping flyer Haley Weisenhofer in the 5 man performance, the girls reconvened later and gave a near flawless routine. Placing for the all girl show cheer was a shock to the whole stadium, when the squad was announced as seventh out of the ten competitors. Despite having performed a routine that hit zero, had no deductions, the judges gave the team a less than perfect placing. No matter the judging of state, the team set sights on a more important competition: nationals. The road to nationals was stopped briefly by the regional competition at Horizon High School. Regionals was the interlude varsity needed to show off their skills before hitting the floor at nationals. In the competition varsity’s fiveman placed first and the show cheer placed in second, making the comeback from state everyone was expecting. The JV team also brought their best to the mats and placed first in the show cheer. Finally, the freshmen finished strong in second place. Head Coach Desiree Stinnett was proud to show the judges where the team should have been rightfully placed in the state championships. “We’ve never had an advance team go to [national] finals, so if they go to finals it will be the first time ever in the school,” Stinnett said.

Now moving forward, the girls take their skills to nationals in Anaheim, Calif. Nationals are taking place Feb. 22 to 25. Varsity cheer’s fiveman routine performs on Feb. 23 and the all girl show cheer performs on Feb. 24 and ends the trip with a day of fun at Disneyland.