Gilmer High’s competition cheerleaders attended its latest event Jan. 23 at Creekview High School.
While GHS did not face any teams it will see at this weekend’s state qualifying event, it did place first in Class 3A. Gilmer did not have any deductions and totaled 64 points.
“I think they did really well. We’ve seen a huge improvement in our stunts overall,” coach Naomi Esparza said. “Of course, there are always things we can fix, but we’ve seen a big jump in our stunting score, especially in our secondary stunt. There are some timing issues we still need to work on. We’ve been unable to have a full pyramid score up until this point in the season.”
Because Gilmer has dealt with injuries and quarantine, Esparza opted to drop from three stunting groups to two for competitions. GHS now takes the floor with 12 cheerleaders rather than 14.
“We’re going to stick with those two groups for sectionals next weekend,” Esparza said.
To expedite the state qualifying process, Saturday’s state qualifying event will serve as a combination of the region meet and sectionals. It will be comprised of Class 3A’s Regions 6, 7 and 8. GHS will need to place in the top eight of the 14-team event to qualify for state.
“Our main focus at practice will be working on polishing things for sectionals,” Esparza said. “We really need to treat this weekend like a state competition and not like region. We’ll see Dawson there, Cherokee Bluff, East Jackson, Greater Atlanta Christian, Hart County and Stephens County, and they historically have really strong teams. Hitting that top eight is doable, I think it is going to be a challenge, too.”
The team is in good health, but Esparza noted the length of the season has taken its toll on cheerleaders. While the season was delayed by two months because of the pandemic, they continued to practice over that span. The season typically ends prior to Christmas break.
Saturday’s event will be held at Dawson County High School.