On Feb. 7, North’s varsity cheer team went to the state competition at ISU’s Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington. North’s varsity cheerleaders are a co-ed competitive cheer team consisting of 19 members in total. The team left for state shortly after their morning walkout, and within the same day, placed top 10, qualifying them for finals where they placed eighth.
“State is an amazing experience to have in high school. You get to meet other like-minded kids who love your sport and showcase your skill in front of a big audience,” said Aliya Clayton, senior. “So many of my favorite high school memories are from experiencing state with my cheer team.”
According to the Competitive Cheerleading IHSA school manual, the cheer team at state is split up into separate divisions based on the size of teams and whether it is co-ed or not. As North’s team is co-ed, they were required to report to IHSA the team’s participants months before the actual competition in November.
“I was very excited for Cheer to be going to state for the second time in a row and for my third time while being on the team. State is always such a fun experience, and it’s such an accomplishment to qualify,” said Taylor Gorka, senior.
To prepare for state, North’s cheer team members trained for three to four hours every day before the competition. Each practice, they worked on their routine of stunts and tumbling sequences.
“Overall, it was tough, but the hard practices leading up to state were worth it,” said Clayton
At state, each team that competes presents one routine that lasts up to three minutes. Each routine is scored on the official IHSA score sheet, which is a 100-point system on the routine’s level of difficulty, technique and synchronization.
“We compete the same routine on both days of state. The first competition day is the preliminary rounds. You compete against the top 25 teams in your division in the state and the top 10 will continue to compete on the second day,” said Clayton. “The second day of competition is the state finals. You compete against the top 10 teams in your division in the state, and the top three are awarded state trophies and medals.”
Many team members, especially the seniors, reflected on how much state impacted them. Some mentioned how it was a great space for students to showcase their cheer skills and meet other like-minded athletes.
“Going to state showed me that when you put your mind to something and work towards your goals, they are more than possible to achieve. My team set so many goals for ourselves this year, and we accomplished almost all of them by the end of it,” said Gorka “State will always be a memory I cherish, and I could not be more proud of my team.”
