On Thursday, Jan. 13, the varsity cheer team competed in the UIL state competition. After months of preparation and a long day of competing, the team brought home a silver medal. 

“The process was really difficult,” junior Cady Wong said. “We had many long practices where we had to yell during our routine over and over again. But we as a team put in a lot of work especially when it came to encouraging each other and also physically exerting ourselves almost every day since the end of football season.”

The competition took place at a convention center in Galveston, and lasted the entire day. Beginning from early in the morning with waking up and getting ready, until after they finished competing, and into the evening. 

“I was super excited and nervous to perform,” junior Jenna Kimball said. “The morning of prelims we performed our routine.”

They began the day by getting ready, stretching, and walking through their routine. They then warmed up, had a team pep talk, and finally, performed. 

“I was super excited to show the judges and the other schools in the stadium our routine which we poured so much time and effort into,” Wong said. “I was ecstatic to see how we placed relative to the other schools, because when it came to our routine we worked on it so long that you get used to it. So when other people see it, it’s a shock to them, and they see the cool elements that we have been working on.” 

After performing for prelims, they had their finals performance, determining their ranking.

“We had a 3 minute routine which incorporated a band dance, a cheer, and a defense cheer in the fight song,” Kimball said. “Our whole team of 26 did a standing tuck.”

They placed second in the entire state of Texas, and brought home the silver medal. This was the highest the cheer team has ever placed, making this a new record for them.

“We all grew as a team,” Kimball said. “Our trust with each other grew as we all knew by the end we were all giving our 100% each time. With so much work we had put into our performance it made getting a medal so much more fulfilling.”