The Sweet Home Junior Cheer team, including fifth- through eighth-grade athletes, finished second among seven teams in the large junior recreational cheer division Sunday at the Portland Expo Center.
“Fantastic,” said Coach Kayla Rosa. “Actually that was the best performance I’ve seen all year.”
Sweet Home finished four points behind Aloha Youth Cheer, which is the only other team to finish ahead of Sweet Home this season.
Aloha dropped a couple of stunts, which cost a one-point deduction. Sweet Home didn’t drop any. Aloha beat Sweet Home by a point in tumbling, and still finished better in stunting.
“We had a really good year,” Rosa said. “Last year, our team only had 10 kids. This year, we had 19. They started off really strong.”
Sweet Home won not only its division at Springfield and the Emerald Classic but also won the sessions and grand champion.
Sweet Home hit a lull afterward, losing to Aloha at Clackamas, but “they finished really strong,” Rosa said. Sweet Home can’t control what other teams do, so she asks that the team just give her its best. All but one competition, the girls have given her that.
Overall, it was a really good season, and many of the girls have learned more skills and improved their existing skills, she said.
The team included Allison Brown, Ashley Bailey, Britney Zook, Charisma Hardee, Elizabeth Chelstad, Emily Brown, Emily Funk, Hailey Mitten, Haley Hardin, Haley May, Halley Autry, Jocelyn Robbins, Kelly Ogden, McKenzie Wolfe, Natalia Arroyo, Natalie Blanchard, Pippi Somatis, Shahalie Erickson and Shelby Goodwin. Rylie Neighbors is the team manager.