For the first time since 2021, the Irish Cheer team won the regional performance competition Sept 21. 

The team competed at Stroud High School, placing first in the 5A-1 regional competition with a score of 279.0.

“The biggest contributing factor to our success this year is the amount of returners we have from last year’s state season,” head coach Mandy Gerszewski said. “18 out of the 20 athletes on the floor were on the team last year.  Having that experience for this type of competition is a very big deal because they understand how to handle specific situations and obstacles that may present themselves.”

The Lady Irish scored the highest across both 5A regional competitions, qualifying them for the 5A state competition. As well as scoring highest in 5A, the cheerleaders had the highest score across the 4A and 6A competitions. 

“There is still so much work to do this week,” Gerszewski said. “This coming weekend is a new environment, a new panel of judges, new everything, so we have to maintain focus and composure in order to continue to work hard until the end of the season.”

The state competition will be held at Union High School in Tulsa, Sept 28.