Competition cheerleading, a sport that consists of a two-minute routine of jumps, stunts and tumbling, is much harder than it may sound. Although the teams only put two minutes of work on the mats, they put hours of hard work, blood, sweat and tears into mastering their craft. However, despite it being incredibly hard to maintain a high level of performance, the Lambert Varsity competition cheer team was able to pull out its 4^th state championship this year at the GHSA state competition on November 11-12th in Columbus, GA.

After many months of morning and afternoon practices, the competition team pulled off its first win in the state AAAAAAA competition. The schools in this division are the largest schools in terms of population size Lambert has competed against, but this change did not alter Lambert’s passion and dedication to pull out the best overall performance among all of its competitors (Hillgrove, East Coweta, South Forsyth, Lassiter, and West Forsyth). The win, however, did not come easy. Each practice started off with stretching and warming up stunts and tumbling. From there the girls moved to warming up every part of their routine. The rest of practice was determined by what day it was. For instance, on Mondays and Fridays, they worked on cleaning up sections of the routine, whereas on Tuesdays and Thursdays, they went full out in their routine. Wednesday mornings, they would work on stunts and cleaning up any small issues. They had these practices five days a week each for two hours, knowing that all of their time and energy committed would pay off in the end.

Like anyone would imagine, winning the state competition is a great feeling. After all, it is a very difficult sport that people take years to practice and advance in.  Mckenzie Ryan, a sophomore on the varsity cheer team, has been cheering for 9 years, and she says, “we work so hard and it’s the best feeling in the world. All of the summer practices are so hard but the winning makes it all mean something.” Meghan Santander a junior on the varsity team, describes the feeling as “unreal,” saying that “I couldn’t believe I had actually won state not once, but twice.” Hadley Trinkown, a senior who has been a member of the varsity team since her junior year says, “There isn’t a word for what winning state is like because there are no words. It is indescribable.” Coach Paige spoke for him and all of the cheer moms when he said, “we work so hard every year and it’s so great to see the girls win.”

Even though this was the 4^th Lambert state title, it was the first for many of them, second for some, and third for a few seniors. The team roster attached below explains their grade level and number of years they have been on the team.
Freshmen:

Maddy Vanderweele- 1^st year

Gianna Verde- 1^st year

Savannah Vo- 1^st year

Caroline Harris- 1^st year

Sophomores:

Brynne Borner- 2^nd year

Maddie Tattersall- 2^nd year

Mckenzie Ryan- 2^nd year

Katie Bayer- 1^st year

Ashleigh Brannigan- 1^st year

Juniors:

Dani Spera- 3^rd year

Sammie Spera- 1^st year

Tristin Russell- 3^rd year

Meghan Santander- 3^rd year

Emma Menichino- 3^rd year

Seniors:

Autumn Ashley- 4^th year

Savannah Cook- 4^th year

Hadley Trinkwon- 2^nd year