Winter Park, Bishop Moore capture state championships in competitive cheer

Winter Park High School and Bishop Moore Catholic High School both captured state titles at the statewide competitive cheer tournament Thursday, Jan. 31, and Friday, Feb. 1, in Gainesville.

Both squads stepped up and continued their ongoing legacies of dominance, with Winter Park taking the Class 2A championship in the medium group category and Bishop Moore earning the Class 1A championship in the medium group category.

BACK ON TOP

The recent championship in cheer marked a bounce-back effort for the Wildcats, who fell just short of the state title last year with a second-place finish behind Jupiter High School. That turned into extra motivation for the girls however, as Winter Park made a terrific showing in the finals this year with a score of 91.20, topping Jupiter and getting the highest score of any team in the entire Class 2A.

“I am so excited for this team; we faced some fierce competition at the local and state level, and it was a huge accomplishment for the program,” coach Angela Austin said. “I’m really proud of the athletes.”

With each cheer team getting scored in a tumbling/gymnastics segment, a building/stunting segment and a cheer segment, the Wildcats knew they would have to come up big in their strongest area: the stunting, Austin said.

“Our strength-and-conditioning coach does a wonderful job, and our girls are able to put each other up into stunts,” Austin said. “We’re able to just put up more people than some of the other teams. The other teams use three and four bases to lift up a girl, and we only do two bases. It comes across in the level of difficulty — we just throw more tricks than the other teams.”

Senior Haleigh Collins was thrilled the team’s hard work paid off this year.

“I wasn’t really expecting to win — it was just really exciting because we had worked so hard,” Collins said. “I think this team is one of the best I’ve been on in all my years of cheering at Winter Park. We all just have this special drive and motivation to win and accomplish all our goals.”

The state championship marked the Wildcats’ ninth title in 12 years. It’s an impressive tradition of excellence, and it felt great to bounce back, Collins said.

“I know after last year a lot of us were really disappointed, because we got second after having a six-year winning streak,” Collins said. “That kind of gave us even more motivation to win this year. We wanted to be back on top.”

AGAINST ALL ODDS

Bishop Moore Hornets cheer team head coach Shannon Lambert said it’s safe to say the girls had a rough year — although the ending made it all worthwhile. 

The cheer team went through a coaching change in the middle of the spirit season during football and suffered numerous injuries to start the competitive cheer season.

Despite the challenges, the Hornets showed heart and worked hard leading up to the state finals, where they took first place with a score of 85.30.

It was the 10th state championship in the program’s history.

“I’m so proud of these girls, because they did have to go through adversity,” Lambert said. “I was the coach that was there for eight years. I retired, and then I was asked to come back when they lost their other coaches.

“They were going from being super close to their coaches to now having somebody who has a totally different thought process,” she said. “What was amazing is that these girls are super athletic. They had to start from a whole different coaching style, and they just absorbed it and went with the flow. It was just amazing.”

So how did the girls turn a season around that was looking so bleak with injuries? Lambert said it was the girls being solid and stepping up to their role.

“Alternates are valuable,” Lambert said. “Our very first day, we broke an ankle, and in our very first competition we tore an ACL, and she had a full knee blow out. Two competitions after that, we had a sprained ankle and sprained wrist. Then, we had a major concussion (for one) of the girls (who) stepped up. … This championship did not go unearned. I’m so proud of the team. I’m so proud of everything we’ve overcome. They just stepped up to every challenge.”

Bishop Moore senior Olivia Veigle said the championship was a huge accomplishment — and something the girls will never forget.

“There was a lot of challenges along the way, and in the face of all of it, each person on the team had an open mind and always just looked for that end goal,” she said. “For us, that end goal was to be state champions again. We wanted to continue the legacy and keep it going.

“For me personally, going out with a win was huge as being a senior on the team after dedicating so much time to it,” she said.