Gilmer High cheerleaders were in Morgan County for their final competition of the season.
It was the region event that also determined which teams advanced to this week’s state finals, and Gilmer scored a 61 to place third in the standings.
Twenty-four Class 3A teams performed on the day, and because Gilmer’s score did not crack the top 16, its season came to an end.
“Typically you see scores fall in that final week as you get to that group of finite judges,” head coach Naomi Esparza said.
The event greeted GHS after a tumultuous week. One of their seniors was unable to compete because of an injury late in the week, and two others were unable to attend practices, according to Esparza.
Further, GHS had a quick turnaround after cheering at the football game in White County the night before.
“We had a couple different hiccups during the week with a cheerleader who was pretty severely injured at practice,” Esparza said.
“We had another who competed in the national FFA competition as well during the week. Both of them are pretty senior level cheerleaders and big parts of our team. We had to do some last minute adjustments to fill that spot (for the injury). We also had another girl miss some practices because of a reoccurring injury.”
Given the tough circumstances, Esparza was happy to see cheerleaders give their best effort. She assessed the season and what the program returns in the future.
“With what they were able to do at region, they were able to make the most of an unfortunate situation. For that, I’m proud of how they responded to those hurdles because there was no easy answer.
“They are still pretty young as we only graduate two seniors. I’m proud of them and what they did. They came a super long way since we started our preseason work, especially some of our younger girls with the way they learned, persevered and took on challenges. That’s not easy for any young athlete, and I think they gained some valuable experience this year. It will be interesting to see how that plays out in the coming years for them.”