The Chesterton High School Varsity Coed Cheer Team made history by winning the first ever HCCA State Championship in the 4A Game Day Division, which is a system used to group schools based on their size, CHS was grouped into this division based on its enrollment size. This championship took place on Saturday, October 19, at Greenfield-Central High School.
Junior lifter Bobby Spencer states the importance of teamwork when competing, saying, “I have to work with a flier, and we have to have great communication and teamwork to achieve our goals…we have to throw stunts, so if we don’t work on what we need to, it won’t happen.”
They competed against 13 of the best teams across the state and took first place against these competitive teams. Finishing in second place behind CHS was Hamilton Southeastern, and Pendleton Heights took third. In addition to CHS winning the state title, they also were awarded with “Best Fight Song” in the 4A Game Day category. The CHS coed cheer team used hard work and dedication to achieve their goals.
“With teamwork you have to make it work the best you can, before state we didn’t have much time to practice and get ready. We all had to come together and make it work the best we could, and we ended up doing pretty well,” sophomore lifter Cole Gilbert explained.
The CHS Coed Cheer team also placed first in the Coed Stunt Group category. The 1st place stunt group included sophomore Maddie Lyons, juniors Levi Swart, Mady Novak, and senior Nicole Marciniak. The 2nd place Coed Stunt Group included junior Bobby Spencer, and seniors Ava Casselman, Bayli Stills, and Jori Hawkins.
“I try to remember the great things my coaches tell me to do, and how they have prepared me for these moments, and how hard I have worked to get here. We have a stronger sense of unity than many other teams might have, we all have to work together,” junior lifter Swart said.
On November 9th, CHS cheer went to Newcastle, Indiana, and competed in the IASP State Cheerleading Championships. The CHS cheer team worked extremely hard in their journey to state. They had to participate in a competition in Lake Central to see if they qualified for state. Once they qualified, they participated in the 4A Game Day Division. After they qualified for state finals, they attended the championship in Newcastle, Indiana, where they had to perform a crowd leading cheer that had to begin and end with a buzzer. Their team placed 9th out of 24 teams. The championship was the first time the CHS cheerleading program had competed. The HCCA state championship varsity team included seniors Aubrey Schilla, Ava Casselman, Bayli Stills, Gaby Dunlap, Jori Hawkins, Jori Higdon, Lauren Koonce, Logan Donahue, and Nicole Marciniak, juniors Bobby Spencer, Gionna Pinkston, Levi Swart, Mady Novak, Veronica Perez, Vincent Casselman and Nico Monaco, sophomores Brendan Brady, Cole Gilbert, Emma Gilbert, Ethan Wood, Grace Miller, Maddie Lyons, and Olivia Papp, freshmen Canon Surane, Carly Decker, and Kate Cichocki. As well as freshman manager Ashlyn Dolph, and coaches Tara Graf and Calla Dolph.
Congratulations to the Chesterton High School Cheerleading team on these incredible achievements!
