Gilmer High School cheerleaders completed their competitive season last Friday at the Columbus Civic Center.
GHS took the floor for the Class 4A state sectionals and scored 64.5 points. A safety infraction brought their total down to 54.5 for an 18th place finish out of the 24 teams in attendance.
“Overall, this is the best they performed all season,” coach Naomi Esparza said. “They absolutely surprised me with their showmanship and abilities.
“I told the girls when they came off the floor, ‘I don’t even know the team I just watched.’ They did absolutely phenomenal, and it was more than just peaking in our season. They showed all of the hard work they put in to make this come to fruition. They left everything out on the mat, and I couldn’t be more proud of what they did.”
Gilmer’s 10-point deduction caught coaches and cheerleaders by surprise. They were penalized for not having a cheerleader in the correct position during their pyramid. However, the positioning was the same used all season, and cheerleaders had not been deducted for it before state.
“It was kind of one of those ‘freak things’ because we hadn’t been called on it all year,” Esparza said. “We didn’t have an additional bracer and that’s where our extra deductions came from, and it was a surprise to all of us. We were all just sort of looking at each other like ‘what in the world is going to happen’ because usually if you’re called on something it happens first at region.
“The way the ruling reads, what we did was still legal. I’m going to reach out for some clarification on that for sure.”
Gilmer’s scores steadily climbed over the course of the season, which was a welcome sign for a program that was less experienced compared to recent seasons.
“I think they made a lot of improvements,” Esparza said. “Anytime you’re kind of in a rebuilding year, it’s a learning season, and it was a learning season for many of us because we have such a young group of girls. They’ve come so far and made up 30 points from our first competition to region, and that is sort of unheard of.”
Gilmer will graduate four seniors off this year’s team and returns 10 cheerleaders next season.
“The girls are already talking about next year, and we’re excited about growing where we’ve come from especially with all of the hard work they’ve put in,” Esparza said. “We’re already talking about next year and what we want to be better at.”
Denmark High, who was just reclassified to Class 6A beginning next fall, won the Class 4A state title.