The state cheer competition at the Denver Coliseum is what every cheer team in the district strives to get to. Our own varsity cheer team made to the Coliseum last weekend for the first time in nine years.    

Smoky Hill’s varsity cheer team got sixth place at state. Freshman Samantha Villasana talk about preparing for state, “State went really well I think, it was really fun, and we’re the first cheer team in nine years to make state.”

There will always be struggles a team faces in competition, but teams just learn to push through. “Warming up, some things didn’t work very well, and then in the routine I didn’t pull my arabesque (when a dancer has one leg extended out behind them) quick enough. But, once we were out there it went well,” Villasana said.

Lots of preparation goes into making state for cheer , Villasana talks about what the team did to prepare, “We prepared all year by running lots of full outs (a full routine), and worked really hard to hit all of our routines everytime we did it.”

Some teams pray before a competition, and some have a tradition they do for good luck, “So, before every competition, the coaches and the team all get in a circle, we all hold hands, and we pray,  then there is a tradition we do, there are little stars in a glass jar that we have,  everybody takes a star and they put all their hopes and wishes in it. After you do that you kiss the star and put it back in the jar,” Villasana said

Once a team is finished with one of their competitions, some always have goals for their next competition, while others develop goals over time, “We want to get out there and just hit our routine like we have been doing,” Villasana said.

Nationals is up next for our varsity girls in February, good luck and go Buffs!