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By Maggie Wieland

In sync, the cheer team performs their second routine of the day.

The cheer team traveled to Topeka to compete in the Kansas 6A Cheerleading State Championships Saturday, Nov. 19. They fought hard, but did not make it to the final round of the competition. 

In the preliminary round of the competition, all teams performed three routines: crowd leading, band chant and fight song. 

After finishing their crowd leading and band chant performances, cheer team member junior Jaiden Fischer had high hopes for the team. 

“We have improved so much and [our routines] have looked so good,” Fischer said. 

In the team’s final performance, fight song, cheer received a major point deduction for performing an illegal stunt which took them out of the running for qualifying for finals. This stunt had been a part of their routine all season and no judge at any other competition had told the coaches that it was illegal. 

Sophomore Jada Winfrey was frustrated with the team’s predicament but was still proud of her team and how hard they worked. 

“We were all really sad because no one knew we weren’t allowed to do that,” Winfrey said. “It was out of all of our control. We all did the best we could and we still did really good.” 

The cheer team’s season isn’t over yet. Winfrey notes that they are still preparing for Nationals, which will take place in January. 

“We still have Nationals so hopefully we can do a lot better there,” Winfrey said. “It really sucks that State didn’t go how we wanted it to but now we just have to work even harder for Nationals.” 

Sophomore Kenzie Johnson hopes they can learn from their mistakes at state and use them to help them perfect their routines before Nationals. 

“I think we learned how to work as a team,” Johnson said. “We know that we need to be confident in each other and uplift each other.”