Seventh in the nation

Copyright 2017, The Commercial Review

All Rights Reserved

ORLANDO, Fla. — They belong.

The Patriots never got a chance to show it at the state fair.

Despite qualifying for nationals in November, they still weren’t sure.

But this weekend, in the midst of hundreds of other squads on the biggest stage in cheerleading, they left no doubt.

Jay County High School advanced through Saturday’s preliminaries, was even better hours later in the semifinals and on Sunday afternoon hit another strong routine to finish seventh in medium varsity Division II at the Universal Cheerleaders Association National High School Cheerleading Championship at ESPN Wide World of Sports Fieldhouse.

“It just felt amazing because we didn’t know what to expect,” said Patriot junior Sydnee Lee. “We would have been happy with 10th place.”

As they stood on the mat in a horseshoe shape along with the other squads in the top 10 listening to the results announced in reverse order of finish, three other schools came off the list before them.

“Every time they didn’t say our name, we kind of got more shocked because we didn’t know what to expect,” said Alexus Liette, Jay County’s lone senior. “Our goal was semifinals, so just getting to the horseshoe was a huge accomplishment.

“We just wanted to show that we did belong here … and that we earned everything we did. We worked really hard to get here, so the hard work just paid off.”

JCHS finished seventh in medium varsity Division II, behind sixth-place Madison Southern (Berea, Kentucky) in front of eighth-place Beech (Hendersonville, Tennessee). Greenup (Kentucky) won the national title.

Making the school’s first trip to the UCA Nationals in 28 years, the Patriots were understandably nervous as the preliminary round approached Saturday. But after they got a look at the venue and watched a couple of other squads, their coaches had a message for them.

“Guys, we belong,” Abby Champ told her girls.

They agreed.

And then they proved it.

Jay County advanced to Saturday’s finals with a strong preliminary routine Saturday afternoon and an even better one hours later in the semifinals.

The Patriots had one group lose control of a stunt early in Sunday afternoon’s finals performance, but everything else was on the mark. From the opening tumbling, with Breea Liette and Courtney Miles nailing their back handspring, back handspring fulls, to the final pyramid with Dara Grove hitting her front flip to the floor and back flip into the air again, they were sharp.

And, they brought the spirit.

“We didn’t have a perfect routine, but we had the most energetic, fun, relaxed performance we’ve ever had,” said Champ. “They were loud and they were so energetic. People yelled that weren’t even associated with us because they got their attention.”

That energy carried over from the night before.

Jay County had hoped to be able to advance past the preliminaries but knew that would be no easy task in the squad’s first trip to nationals in 28 years and with a young squad — half freshmen — taking the mat. So after accomplishing that goal, they had no further expectations.

During the semifinals, they focused on just having fun. The nerves were gone. And it showed.

The Patriots hit their best routine — better than at any competition, showcase or even practice, nearly flawless from start to finish.

“We all tackled each other after we hit our (semifinal) routine,” said Lee. “We were jumping all over each other. We were so proud. It was just the reaction that goes with the perfect routine.”

Three months earlier, when it was announced that they had qualified for nationals, the Patriots were shocked and mostly quiet. That pattern didn’t hold late Saturday night.

The cheering and screaming from the Jay County girls was so loud and sustained that the announcer had to take a break before continuing to read the rest of the list of finalists.

“I’m currently still in shock,” said junior Breea Liette as the clock ticked toward midnight after Saturday’s action. “When they said it, I look around, I was like, ‘This isn’t possible.’

“I had already prepared myself to not hear our name. So when I did hear it, I was like, ‘This isn’t right.’”

But it was.

The weekend’s accomplishments were a culmination of a long journey.

The Patriots started doing extra tumbling and stunting work in late 2015, hoping it would pay off more than a year later. After the state fair competition was rained out, they turned their attention to November’s Indiana Cheer Championship, where they finished fourth, and Hoosier Championship, where they took second place and surpassed the qualifying score to earn themselves a national berth.

And for the last two and a half months, everything was focused on the national competition.

There were nerves when the Patriots arrived, but those jitters turned out to be the last hurdle they would need to overcome. The skills were there.

“Once the calmed down a little, then they could just have fun. Ultimately, that’s all we wanted. We wanted to come down here and experience this and have fun. And boy did we experience it and boy did we have fun.”