After a long and challenging season, it has come to an end.
The Lakeland Hawks cheer team season ended at the state tournament at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa on Feb. 24.
The season started out strong. Once the last football game was over, the team immediately started to work on their competition routines.
But then some injuries and sickness started to plague the team, and senior flier Charlie Dickerson suffered a concussion, which would take her out for the first competition at the Snake River Rampage in Burley, Idaho.
“Getting another concussion made it harder to try new stunts and to trust the team to not drop me because I got dropped off,” Dickerson said.
This was her second concussion after receiving the summer of 2022.
The team would place second in sideline and third in the co-ed show routine.
Once that competition was over, the Hawks would not compete until Jan. 27. During this time, the team would work hard to perfect and make their routines even better than they already were.
They would compete in the Prairie Classic Competition, where the Hawks would take grand champions after sweeping every routine, taking first place in pom, co-ed show and the sideline routine.
“It felt great because that had been a difficult week with routines changing that week; winning felt like a well-deserved victory,” Annalie Terzulli said.
Colin Killian took first place in the men’s jumps competition and third place in the men’s tumbling.
Hailey Wear took third place in the tumbling competition, Libby Kennedy took second and Adaira Tyler would take third place in the jump competition as well.
After this competition, the Hawks had two more matches in back-to-back weeks: the Timberlake Tigers competition and then the district tournament in Lewiston.
The team would take first place in the Sideline category at the Timberlake Tigers Competition. Then, it was time for districts.
“Yes, it helped my slumber because we did not have to wake up early, and I did not have to rush myself getting ready,” Elizabeth Duce said.
After several more practices, the Hawks were ready for the challenge. Once they made the trip, the team would stay in a hotel the night before to ensure the athletes were prepared to go the next day. If they had not done this, they would have had to leave for Lewiston on the day off at 6:30 a.m. to make it there by 10 a.m. Instead, they got to get a couple more hours of sleep, which paid off.
“We wanted to make our routines even more elite for districts, so it was a lot of hard work during that week,” Terzulli said. “There were also a lot of last-minute changes that contributed to some mess ups at the competition, which contributed to us getting second in show.”
LHS was able to get their sixth district championship in a row and claimed first place in sideline and pom and second place in the all-girl show routine.
The Hawks had multiple three-hour practices to ensure that the routines were state-ready and even better than before.
Once they made the drive down, the Hawks had a full day to prepare as dance performed on Friday, February 23rd. During that day, LHS practiced at Elevation Athletics Center to stay sharp.
“I am working with other people on the team at open gyms to improve my stunting and stretching every day to increase my flexibility,” Duce said.
Even though the Hawks did not place where they had wanted to, it was still a fantastic season full of ups and downs, and they are already gearing up for next season.