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The Pike Liberal Arts varsity and junior varsity teams both competed in the AHSAA State Cheerleading Championship this week as did Charles Henderson’s varsity squad.

Pike Lib’s JV team won its first ever state championship, defeating 33 other squads in the Small Junior High Game Day Division.

“I think they worked hard, I’m exceptionally proud of the JV team because they didn’t get champion or runner-up in regionals and turned it around and came out on top of 33 other teams (at state), which is amazing,” PLAS Varsity Cheer Coach Katie Scott said.

The varsity team, who won the state championship last season, finished runner-up in both the Varsity 2A Game Day and Varsity 2A Traditional Divisions. The varsity team competed against 19 other squads.

“I think they’re probably disappointed in themselves because they came up a little bit short, by less than one point,” Scott continued. “However, Fyffe, that won the title, was a great team with a wonderful routine on the mat. I’m certainly not disappointed in their performance and it gives them something else to work on heading into nationals.”

PLAS will put together the 15 best cheerleaders from both the JV and varsity squads to head to Nationals in Orlando, Fla., in February. Scott is joined on the coaching staff by Tara Morelock and Brittany Royal.

“We’re going to draw inspiration from the JV,” Scott said. “I watched the JV improve every single practice, every single routine they did. Heading into January practices, we want to make sure that as we do our routines, we are improving every single time.”

The CHHS Varsity Cheer Squad competed against 19 other teams and finished third overall in Class 5A Game Day.

“They did really well,” CHHS Cheer Coach Ashlynn Mabry said. “I told all of them that I couldn’t have asked them to do any better than they did. They have done everything we’ve asked them to do and more. They definitely have had a lot of improvement from our first competition until now.”

CHHS will also head to Orlando, Fla., in February to compete at Nationals.

“I think as long as they go in and do everything they’ve done at the last few competitions – and keep excelling in what they do and keeping up their positivity – that’s all they need to do,” Mabry said. “I am very proud of our girls. They are doing a wonderful job. They’re working together as a team and building each other up after each competition. They’re coming in with ideas and things they can do to improve. I’m so proud of them.”