After six months straight of practicing, the cheer team’s hard work paid off one last time as they competed in Dallas on the national level. 

Starting practice in July, the cheer team has been non-stop ever since. They competed in the State competition, the Game Day State competition, and Nationals all within six months. 

“They might not necessarily be working on nationals throughout the whole year or since July, but they’re gearing themselves up for that championship from July until nationals,” head cheer coach Mandy Gerszewski said.

Although the team was faced with a hard six months, the team earned success when they got second place at State and then won Game Day State. The team went to Nationals optimistic about the results while also understanding that this was the last competition of the season and they should not take it for granted. 

“Although we didn’t place the best, we did the routine the best we could and put everything we had on the mat,” senior Maureen Grimes said. 

After all of the practice and the hours, when it came time for the actual competition on Jan. 21 and 22 the girls were still working hard to reach their goals.

“By the second day, everybody was really, really tired because we hadn’t gotten much sleep and we had been practicing a lot,” junior Charlotte Waldo said. 

The whole team, including the coaches, felt this year’s hard work paid off at all four competitions. 

“It’s very very honoring to be a part of a program like this,” Gerszewski said. “I mean, we’ve worked super, super hard to get where we are. The kids have worked super hard. They deserve all the kudos in the world because they’re the ones that really do all the hard work.”