HANCOCK COUNTY — Eastern Hancock High School varsity cheer coach Jade Galyan said it was a year of ups and downs for the girls on her cheer squad. But it certainly ended on a big upswing, with a state championship title earned during the weekend.
Eastern Hancock placed first in the Varsity D category at the Indiana Association of School Principals’ Cheer Championship. The competition was Saturday, Nov. 9, at New Castle High School.
Galyan said after placing fourth among schools in their category at the semi-state competition, the cheerleaders’ goal was to place among the top three at state. When it was announced that they had won first place, she said, there were “lots and lots of tears.”
“We were just ecstatic,” Galyan said. “The girls just cried and screamed and cried.”
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Galyan said the team worked hard to revise its routine into the best possible version. The work paid off.
Eastern Hancock also came in 10th place out of 40 schools in the “Time-Out” division at the competition, a category focused purely on cheering without additional elements like music or dance choreography. That category is not divided by the size of the school, meaning Eastern Hancock competed against much larger teams.
The next step for the squad will be competing at the Mid-Eastern Conference in March, where they are hoping to take home another championship title. Until then, Galyan said, they will be focused on basketball season.
“We’ve had unbelievable support from the community, the parents and the football team,” Galyan said. “We’re still on cloud nine.”
Greenfield-Central High School placed third in the Varsity B division and fourth in the Time-Out division. It marked the fifth year in a row G-C cheerleaders have been a top-five state contender, which head cheerleading coach Laken Rosing said has been one of the program’s goals.
“We’re especially proud of the leadership that we have this year,” Rosing said.
Three of the team’s current seniors were freshmen on the team when they won the state championship in 2016.
“They have been especially invested in that goal of being state finalists every year and just trying to make Greenfield-Central a name in the cheer community,” Rosing said. “They did a great job this year of leading by example. They work really hard on the mat and also in the classroom.”
Rosing said the school’s Varsity B division routine was 2½ minutes, one minute of which must be cheering while the remaining time can have music. Along with cheers, the performance was filled with jumps, tumbling, stunts and dancing.
“It’s really fast-paced — to cram all that into 2½ minutes,” Rosing said.
Mt. Vernon High School placed fourth in the championship’s Varsity B division.
“With this being my second year coaching. I am very excited to see what the future holds for Mt. Vernon cheer. We were fifth last year and moved up a place, so I am really looking forward to seeing additional positive outcomes next year,” Mt. Vernon cheer coach Jordan Sell.
Mitchell Kirk of the Daily Reporter staff contributed to this story.
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Eastern Hancock High School varsity cheerleaders
Corina Jennings
Macy Holzhausen
Sydney Janes
Corinne White
Abby Redmon
Gracie Beaudry
Austyn Sutton
Haylee Craney
Hannah Lambert
Halie Corbett
Madelyn Gaylord
Cameron Koch
Greenfield-Central High School cheerleaders
Jillian Baker
Dory Ratliff
Ellie Robertson
Evie Soltes
Paige Towle
Hailey Bell
Alli Bowman
Grace Kelley
Morgan Wyatt
Elayna Allender
Courtney Civitarese
Braelyn Couch
Kylie Harvey-Drudge
Abbey Hughes
Elayna Morris
Sam Torres
Bailey Chrabascz
Sally Cook
Karleigh Doan
Lillie Pratt
Daisy Fletcher
Lauren Uptegrove
Adryana Warner
Abby Zorne
Mt. Vernon High School cheerleaders
Shechinah Goodman
Mya Eppert
Brianna Page
Alyssa White
Gracesyn Thomas
Emma Muffler
Danae Kendrex
Kate Gray
Madison Helton
Kaylee Taylor
Kaylen Stewart
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