It was a successful day for all four Hancock County schools at Saturday’s Indiana Association of School Principals Indiana Cheer Championship State Finals at New Castle High School.
But no one was as triumphant as the group from Eastern Hancock High School.
The Royals competitive cheer team, for the third time in the last four years, won their division to claim a state championship. Eastern Hancock won the Varsity D group. The team also placed third in the timeout competition.
Eastern Hancock also won state titles in 2019 and 2020.
“I’ve coached these senior girls since they were in sixth grade,” Eastern Hancock coach Jade Galyan said. “I wanted them to get one more state title before they graduated. We have been through so many ups and downs. It wasn’t easy … This was probably the hardest year because of illnesses, injuries and other changes. It almost feels sweeter than the rest, because of how hard we had to work to get here, and eight of the girls are seniors.”
Galyan’s team was first in their division at last month’s preliminaries held at Mt. Vernon High School, but she said nothing was taken for granted coming into Saturday’s finals at Chrysler Fieldhouse.
“I’m that kind of coach that’s like, ‘That’s great, but now people are coming for you,’” she said. “You can never let your guard down. We looked at the scores, and the feedback from judges and made changes. We added things and took things out. We changed multiple parts of our routine heading into finals.”
In competition cheerleading, squads are scored in four categories. Cheering, jumps and dance are combined into one category. There are also categories for tumbling, stunts/pyramids and an overall judge’s impression.
“I think our cheer really pushed us to first place,” Galyan said. “We’re always really strong in our cheer. We got third in the Timeout division, which is cheering. It was our strongest area of the scoresheet.”
The state champion cheer members at EHHS include, Hannah Lambert, Halie Corbett, Austyn Sutton, Cameron Koch, Esther Surburg, Haylee Craney, Rylee Carter, Makenna Collins, Madi Engleking, Lainey Sutton, Hayden Lambert, Myah Gardner and alternates Gracie Cook, Savannah Hardy, Cameron Spegal and Natalee Short.
Mt. Vernon, New Palestine and Greenfield-Central competed in the Varsity B group. The Marauders placed fourth, the Dragons sixth and the Cougars seventh.
“I’m so proud of my girls. They killed it,” Mt. Vernon coach Jordan Sell said. “They had the best routine that they had all year. The last performance has to be the best performance. They did just that.”
In additional, Mt. Vernon senior Mya Eppert performed with the all-state team. She was the lone county cheerleader on the 12-member squad chosen from all across Indiana.
“We’re proud of that little senior as she finished out her high school cheer competition season on a high note,” Sell added.
Earlier this season, the Marauders won the Hoosier Heritage Conference competition. New Palestine was second.
“I was proud of them regardless (of how they placed at state),” New Palestine coach Lindsey Elsbury said. “Our goal is always to make it to state. Unfortunately, it wasn’t our best performance, but, as I told them, it doesn’t take away from all the hard work they put in this season. I’m proud of them.”
There were eight finalists in each division. Teams qualified last month at a preliminary event held at Mt. Vernon High School. To get to the state meet, a team had to be among the top 60 percent in their division.
While other county coaches said their competition is done for the season, Galyan has hopes her squad will compete in the national championships. They will go to a qualifier in two weeks at Hamilton Southeastern in an attempt to make the national meet in February. The Royals will try to defend their Mid-Eastern Conference title in March, to be held at Eastern Hancock.
Elsbury said her team will now concentrate on cheering on the Dragons football team, which will play for a regional title at Roncalli High School Friday night.
