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Since last April, the Williamsburg cheerleaders have had a single goal, winning the state cheerleading title in the Traditional Division. They knew it would take a lot of hard work and that they would have to knock off 8-time champion, Clark County, a 4A school with more than 20 cheerleaders.
The state’s regional winners in four divisions met Saturday at McBrayer Arena on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University. The morning session saw Williamsburg do their gymnastic floor cheer and a pom pom routine.
Williamsburg went through the floor cheer, hitting every mount in perfect stride. “We felt good after the floor cheer,” said coach Teresa Black.
Then it was back on the floor for the pom pom routine with a “Wizard of Oz” theme. The performance caught the attention of the packed house and the judges. Two of the five judges gave Williamsburg the state title, two felt they were runner-up and the blow came when one scored Williamsburg sixth.
However, the high and low are dropped and Williamsburg finished with 267.1 points, good enough for second place for the second year in a row. Williamsburg swept the pom-pom routine from four of the five judges.
It was the last time seniors Tiffany Baker, Danni Barton and Randi Rhodes would be competing. Barton said, “It was fun being with my friends and it was a great sisterhood experience. It was fun to be able to go to state and compete at that level.”
Rhodes added. “It was a hard road but we had a lot of fun. It’s all worth it at the end. All the long hard practices are worth it and it’s a privilege to at least go to state and place as high as we did.”
“Getting second was kind of disappointing because we had high expectations,” said Baker. “We thought we did a good job but it is still an honor to get second.”
“Getting second was still awesome,” said Baker. “We were the smallest school in the competition.”
Juniors Corissa Black and Candace Mack have set a goal to get back to state. “I hope we can maintain our title of regional champions and set our goal to win state,” said Black.
“I think it will take a lot of time and effort like we put in this year,” said Mack. “We need to work on some more tumbling and difficult stunts to add some more difficulty to our routine.
From last April to last week, Mack felt the squad put in many long hours of hard work. “After the endless hours of practice and doing things over and over and over, it finally came together.”
“That’s what makes you look good and that’s what makes you win,” said Mack.
It was the third year in a row Williamsburg won region as well as district “game” honors. Black says next year’s squad will work hard to maintain that goal. “In cheerleading we constantly get the thing that we worry only about competition, but it’s not only about competition, winning district shows you care about cheering games as well. It does mean a lot to win district.”
Corbin takes fifth
For the first time in several years the Corbin cheerleaders competed at the KAPOS level. With a new coach, Toni Carloftis, the CHS cheerleaders embarked on a new avenue, the 2 1/2 minute routine in the large varsity division, one of the toughest in the state.
They would go against UCA National Champion, Dunbar, who is being featured on Lifetime TV this month.
Corbin, a AA class school, with more than 20 cheerleaders, placed them in the large varsity division with many 4A size schools. It would be a tough mountain for any squad in the Commonwealth to climb.
During district tournaments, Corbin lost out in competition to Williamsburg and Whitley County, but rebounded to win the 13th Region Large division over Clay County, Bell County and Cumberland.
They gained more confidence during the boys’ and girls’ regional basketball tournaments and swept both first place honors, beating Cawood to take the boys’ “game” title and beating North Laurel to win the girls’ division.
The last week has been practice, practice and more practice in preparation for the showdown with Dunbar, Clark County, Daviess County, Anderson County, Lincoln County, Warren East and Fleming County, some traditional names at the state cheerleading championships.
When it was all said and done, Corbin nosed out Lincoln County by 1.5 to take fifth place, a goal set by most of the squad. Trophies are only given to the top five in each of the four divisions.
It has been six years since Corbin competed in KAPOS and the four seniors were excited about their progress this season. Kacey Marr said. “We were happy to get back into KAPOS because it used to be a big part of Corbin cheerleading. We just let it go (KAPOS) but we knew we were better.”
“It was really different this year because we have been in competitions but nothing like KAPOS,” said Marr. “KAPOS is more what cheerleading is suppose to be about, so we have to change a lot of our style.”
Meghan Murphy said it was an awesome experience. “It was awesome to be called out fifth, I didn’t expect it at all, it was the most amazing feeling. They (coaches) told us that it had to be flawless because we had to sit there and watch all the teams perform.”
“When we went out there we had the time of our lives and nailed it,” Murphy said.
Jayla Partin added. The year as a whole was probably one of the best year’s I’ve cheered high school. I have cheered every year of high school and this year was definitely the best, not only because we had a great coach, but because it felt like we were more of a team, everybody got along. we bonded all the time, outside of cheerleading, during cheerleading and then going to KAPOS and winning five trophies was a huge deal for everybody, including the seniors.”
“It was a really great year,” said Partin.
“I was excited when we decided to go to KAPOS because I wanted to be able to prove ourselves,” said Whitney Horn. “We are actually better than we have been showing the last two or three years.
Carloftis, a former Redhound cheerleader herself, was excited the cheerleaders decided to return to competitions. “When I was in high school we competed in KAPOS. And I felt like the girls needed something they have to work toward themselves,” she said.
“What’s the point in practicing and getting better if you are not going to reach a goal yourself,” said Carloftis. “They are always doing for everybody else but they never do for themselves. I felt like this was a goal that they could reach.”
Carloftis felt her squad reached that goal this year. “We wanted to go up there and have a good time and place in the top five and we did that.”
“We were thrilled,” she said. “Honestly, I felt we did a lot better than I thought we would do but it was just because this group has meshed so well together. They never fought, they got along, they have been friends and not missed practice. They have been wonderful and worked hard for this.”
“I think we were more excited to get fifth than Dunbar was to get first,” said Carloftis.
Where does Corbin go from here? “Up,” she said with a smile. “When you win, you have to win more and we are looking forward to next year.”

Traditional
1. Clark Co. 274.8
2. Williamsburg 267.1
3. Madison Central 264.7
4. Pikeville 255.5
5. Wayne County 249.3
6. East Carter 245.8
7. Henderson Co. 226.7
8. Breathitt co. 226.2
9. Russell Co. 226.0
10. Apollo 222.9
11. Anderson Co. 213.5

2 1/2 Minute Large
1. Dunbar 279.5
2. Anderson Co. 268.5
3. Daviess Co. 254.3
4. Clark Co. 252.1
5. Corbin 251.5
6. Lincoln Co. 250.0
7. Estill Co. 242.8
8. Magoffin Co. 235.5
9. Calloway Co. 234.5
10. Larue Co. 232.3
11. Fleming Co. 224.5
12. Warren East 221.5