Lake Oswego High School’s cheer team has had a great season and ended it with a bang being sixth in the state. Not to mention the team was placed in one of the most difficult categories for the competition. Cheer also had one more competition that went very well. It was the Oregon Cheer Championship at the Salem Pavilion. They received first place in the traditional category and fourth place in the gameday division. Safe to say, the cheerleaders’ hard work is paying off.

The cheer team’s routine that was performed at state was about two minutes and 30 seconds long. This routine was choreographed by Suzi Stavas and Memmo Paris. The first time they learned this routine, it looked a little different than it appeared at state. Sophomore Natalie Hills said, “the Saturday before state one of our seniors, Grace, dislocated her knee. She was in a lot of parts of the routine.” Because of this very unfortunate event, the team was forced to adjust. The routine may have lost a little of its edge because of senior Grace Hoffman’s talent missing from the routine, but everything still worked out. Sophomore Sadie Bame said, “We changed it so that we were able to do it in a week.” To explain further they rechoreographed the whole routine, which required lots of time, dedication and focus. Nevertheless, the cheerleaders persevered through this challenge, and mastered their new routine only a week before state. 

The cheerleaders have been preparing for state for five months. During each practice, only nine girls stay the whole time to prepare for competitions. Everyone else who is not part of the competition team goes to support our fellow Lakers during the basketball games, but the competition team cheerleaders seemed to really enjoy their routine. Freshman Chole Vandehey said, “I thought the routine was a lot of fun!” Another thing that also helped the team this year was their team chemistry. Hoffman mentioned, “I really like the team this year, everyone is so bonded with each other. We all love each other which helps to support each other to do our best.” 

A day at state for cheer is literally an all day event. “We come to the school about four hours before we compete,” said Bame. They practice for some time, get ready and eat brunch together at the high school, and soon enough hop on the bus to head to wherever the competition is being held. This year, it was held at the Oregon City High School. “At your time you go get warmed up, and then perform!” said Hills. After the big performance they wait before the awards ceremony starts. Then awards happen and it’s time to head home after a very much deserved victory.

Laker Cheer season 23-24 has sadly come to an end, but luckily there have been many accomplishments and happy memories. Another exciting accomplishment was Hoffman making the All State team. She was not able to perform, but still felt content with her season. Hoffman said, “I feel like I really improved a ton this year.” For the girls who performed at state, they felt very proud of how they did. “I felt like we did really really good for only knowing the routine for one week,” said Vandehey. Ending the season on this positive note makes everyone excited to see what next year brings.