The football season is over, so the fall cheer season has ended as well. This year’s fall team had a total of 17 cheerleaders, which is the most they have had in many years. The team consisted of one freshman, seven sophomores, three juniors, and six seniors. The seniors this year were Reese Watkins, MacKenzie Reinert, Aysjah Yeager, Madison Reinert, Jaidyn Pinkston, and Annie Cox. The girls worked super hard this year; they had practices over the summer (tumbling and stunts included), and they practiced into the school year every week as well. With all this practice, they got to learn some new tricks, which they showed off in the many football games this season. Without the exciting atmosphere at football games, it wouldn’t be much fun, and we have the cheer team to thank for the enthusiasm that they brought every Friday night!

COVID changed a lot of things for many sports, but it definitely affected the cheer team. It had not been since before COVID that the Larned Cheer Team had gone to a big competition. Due to the larger number of girls out, the growth in skill, and the drive to succeed, the cheerleaders were able to go and compete in a large competition in Topeka on Saturday, November 4th. The girls used the routine from the homecoming halftime performance. Having already known the routine, it made it that much easier to clean it up to create even better performance. At the competition, the girls absolutely killed it, and even though they were aiming for a one rating, they are just as proud of the two ratings that they received! The team has learned a lot from the experience, and they cannot wait to apply it to the upcoming winter cheer season.

The cheer team was led by Coach Hannah Smith. Coach Smith came out of coaching retirement a couple years ago, and she had many fun and exciting stunts planned for this season for the fans. The team performed at all of the pep rallies, such as the first home football rally and the homecoming rally. After the homecoming rally, they marched down Broadway in the homecoming parade, cheering for all of the community, then finished off in front of the courthouse, where they performed with the band. At halftime of the homecoming football game, the cheer team performed an amazing routine that they spent countless hours on. The girls traveled to Dodge City to perform for other cheer teams at the Spirit Spreader. Not only have the girls improved so much this year already, but they have also stepped up for competitions and begun traveling to bigger competitions.