The JHS cheerleading squad has recently reached one of their goals for this season. On Sunday, January 13, the squad qualified for the ICCA state competition.
The competition was held in Highland; the girls placed tenth out of thirteen teams, but their accumulated points got them a bid to the state competition. Considering this was the squad’s very first competition of the season, they were extremely pleased to already have a placement in the state competition.
The next competition for the squad is on January 27 for the IHSA state competition. The girls are practicing hard to be able to reach the top. The squad practices three times a week at most; they also use basketball games to practice lifts and jumps.
On top of practicing for their competition, they also have to cheer at every varsity basketball game.
The team this year consists of fifteen members. They include four seniors, two juniors, six sophomores, and three freshmen. The squad’s basketball captains are Bentley Stewart and Erica Howell, and the competition captains are Ashley Lind, Kaylie Steckel, and Jori Brennan.
Senior captain Ashley Lind, said, “I think the rest of the season will go very well. Hopefully we will qualify for IHSA in a few weeks.”
The ICCA state competition will be February 9 in Springfield.