Competing at the cheerleading national tournament in Florida over the weekend, Apollo was runner ups in Small Varsity Coed Division II Game Day. Owensboro who was also in attendance sent two teams – Black Squad and Red Squad.
Black finished sixth in the Large Coed Gameday and 20th in Small Coed Traditional Division II, while Red Squad finished 11th in Traditional prelims and 15th in Game Day prelims.
Daviess County finished 12th in the Super Large Varsity Game Day Division. Burns Middle School competed in the junior high competition, finishing fourth in the Junior High Nontumble Game Day Division and sixth in the Junior High Nontumbling Division.
Entering the competition, Apollo’s confidence was at an all-time high after finishing second in the state competition. Senior Eli Smith acknowledged that the team knew how much potential their routine had and knew if they gave it everything they had, they would receive the desired results.
Apollo admitted that their was a different feeling amongst the team entering nationals compared to prior years.
“Usually, it was more of a vacation for us, but Coach Thomas helped us stay focused and I believe that is why we did so well,” junior Alex Board said. “I believe that is part of the reason we did so well because we worked so hard while we were there.”
Apollo has come a long way to reach this moment – overcoming not having a head coach until Ashley Thomas joined or a routine until the middle of the fall.
“It definitely shows how mentally tough our team is and proves our ability to bounce back despite our trials,” Smith said. “In August, we did not think we would even make it to state yet here we are. We give all the glory to God for blessing us with an amazing coach and giving her the knowledge and strength to do hard things.”
For Owensboro, despite not receiving their desired results, head coach Heather Cavitt was pleased with her teams’ performances and they way they represented themselves.
“We have overcome so many obstacles and challenges this competition season that we are so proud of our teams and their results,” Cavitt said. “We let nerves get us early on, but they recovered and finished the routine nicely. They really overcame some major obstacles midseason and performed well. The results were not what we had hoped for, but we took away a lot of lessons and are already preparing for next season. We will miss our seniors but we have a very young team that will be returning and they are ready to get to work.”
Competing in the Junior High Nontumble Game Day division, Burns Middle School missed out on third place by 0.1, was 0.7 from second, and 1.4 points from first. In the Junior High Nontumbling Division, they finished second in their preliminary group before placing sixth overall – their highest finish ever in this division.
“Our goal at nationals is always to represent our school and our community well, and we did just that and more,” Bruns Middle School coach Robyn Ebelhar said. “My squad worked so hard and put in countless hours of practice to prepare for this moment, and their hard work and dedication paid off. We are looking forward to next year and getting another chance to claim a national title. “
