The Apalachee High School competition cheerleading squad accomplished another goal Saturday by qualifying for the Class AAAAA co-ed state finals.
The Cheer Cats, led by coach Meridith Wages, will travel back to Columbus Saturday in quest of a state title.
“We are super excited and feeling really blessed to have the opportunity to advance on to state finals,” Wages said Monday. “We had a rough go on Saturday.”
After performing well during warm-ups, the Cheer Cats weren’t at their best during the actual performance.
“We are not sure if nerves got the best of some of them, if it was too much of a rushed feeling and some lost focus, but we had quite a few mishaps,” Wages said.
Two of the squad’s elite stunts came down, one of the co-eds came down early causing timing to be thrown off and half of the second structure in the pyramid didn’t make it up.
“We looked like a completely different team,” Wages said. “That has never happened, not even in a practice so we are really unsure of the cause.”
The team had to hope for at least a top 16 finish and got the news it was hoping for.
“After the performance, the entire team felt completely sick when they came off the floor,” Wages said. “We encouraged them to go out with their heads held high focusing on the good things they had done. At that point that was all we could do and to hope that those aspects of our routine would carry us into finals. Thankfully, they did.”
A total of 28 teams participated during state sectionals.
“We are excited about this week,” Wages said. “We are continuing to focus on our end goal of aiming towards being in the top six. There is very tough and close competition and we are going to have to perform a flawless routine, however we want our team to know that all things are possible and we, as a coaching staff, plan to do everything we can to prepare them towards reaching this goal.”
Team members for the AHS Cheer Cats for the 2012 season include Drew Hixson, Quentin Ladson, Carlee Brodie, Jordon Tullis, Taylor Walker, Chelsey O’Connell, Madi Massey, Jen Newman, Brittany Smith, Matt Hixson, Lee Smith, Courtney O’Connell, Karson Gower, Morgan Guthrie and Conner Sims.
