On Saturday, Jan. 20, the competition cheer squad traveled to Hershey for the state competition. They competed in the small division and went straight to the finals after their first performance. After competing against 14 teams in the final, they placed second behind Shaler.

In cheer competitions, there are large, medium, and small categories. The BP competitive cheer squad competes in the small division.

In the small division at States, there were 44 teams, and then they got split in half into two groups A and B. Preliminaries are the first round and everyone competes. The top six teams that scored the highest from both groups went straight to the finals. The next six went to the semi-finals and competed again. The top two teams from the semi-finals then advance to the finals. Then all 14 teams compete in a final round and get placed based on their performances.

When asked to what do you contribute your success, sophomore cheerleader Riley Evans said, “We went the extra step to make sure we were ready in certain categories, such as hiring a tumbling coach, going to crossfit, and perfecting our skills.”

The next step for the competition squad is to travel to Disney Wide World of Sports on February 9 to compete in Nationals.

Riley said that their game plan leading up to Nationals is to, “push tumbling and crossfit and perfect our routine so we are ready to hit the mat at Nationals.”