Four months of training, focus, and determination is what set up the cheer team for success. 

The West High cheer team went to state on October 29th and earned 6th place with their routine. It was held at the Iowa State Fair Center in Des Moines. They competed in coed cheer/dance and there were eight teams in their category. 

The student body sees cheer stunts on the track at football games, but they don’t get to see their competition routine. Their competition routine is much more difficult than what they do on the sidelines. “I love feeling a part of something bigger in our school and it brings a sense of happiness when I do it. One thing I’m nervous about at state is the chance of someone getting hurt while we are competing,” sophomore Gabby Fix said.

Cheer is just as much mental as it is physical. Fifteen people working together to reach the same goal can be motivating, but also leaves room for error. Every single person has to do their job in order for their routine to hit.

“They made so much individual progress with improvements to jumps, motions, dance, and cheer. Stunt groups made so many progressions and there were multiple tumbling advancements and new skills attained. They also learned how to work together for a common goal and how powerful your mindset is. It takes four people to make a stunt hit and only one person or one ounce of disbelief to make it come down,” Coach Kormann said.

The cheer team has been putting in the work to get ready for state. State is their most difficult and important event they do in their season. They prepare for months, but only get about three minutes on the floor to prove themselves. 

¨I feel prepared because over the past weeks we have had more practices than normal, and we don´t leave till we hit our stunts and make sure we have everything done,’ sophomore Peyton Aleksiejczyk said.

One of their major setbacks was the injury of one of their main bases and tumblers. Two days before their final competition, junior Morgan Hauschild injured herself during what was supposed to be their last practice. 

“I got injured doing an aerial the last practice before state. I landed wrong and my knee popped,” said Hauschild. 

While this was a setback for them, they pulled through and put in the work to fix the routine. They didn’t give up when things got tough and they pushed through as a team.

“We deal with illnesses, injuries, and all kinds of adversities every year. Cheerleaders are used to being flexible and working together to make adjustments as needed to benefit the team. This year was harder simply because of the last minute timing. It was our last scheduled practice right before state and we had just worked on stunt progressions with our elite sequence and adding fulls into our basket tosses and got our routine to where we wanted it to be for State,” Kormann said.

This caused the team to implement two more last minute practices in order to make quick and efficient changes to their routine. Although the season did not end as they had hoped, they gained many skills and created great memories as a team.

“I am still going to the playoff game and state, even though I can’t compete I still want to support my team,” Hauschild said.