Team members showed that their winning attitude didn’t leave with the 11 seniors that graduated in June. This year, the team faced the always-tough competition of WT Woodson’s and Lake Braddock’s teams, as well as the newly strong South County. After placing first in District Semifinals, the cheerleaders knew they had their work cut out for them.

“We had really big shoes to fill, and we didn’t want to be the year that lost it,” said senior captain Erika Nielsen.

The team wound up in first, after round one of District Finals. The top four teams moved on to round two and the Lady Spartans were joined by Woodson, Braddock and South County.

“They announced South County first and we thought they had come in first,” said junior Megan Omans. “But then we realized they were announcing the results in backwards order, and we were in first, and we started screaming and jumping.”

This put the team up to perform last, finishing out the night with a dynamic rendition of their routine.

The tension in the air was obvious as the announcer came back on the microphone to announce the results. Winning by the narrow margin of just 1.5 points, the girls were able to keep their strong tradition alive.

“The other teams didn’t care who won; they just didn’t want us to win,” said senior Kaitlyn Connolly. “It felt good to show them that we’re still continuing our legacy.”

Varsity Cheer members worked hard in recent days to overcome an incident that resulted in the removal of one of their veterans from the team. Changing their routine was difficult, squad members said, but not impossible for the seasoned champions. They were still able to put on a winning show.

“I think they worked really hard, seeing what the routine looked like three weeks ago to how it looked at Districts,” said senior manager Lindsay Victor. “They weren’t hitting all their stunts and then all of a sudden they just clicked. It was amazing.”