JC, EJMS place 2nd

INDIANAPOLIS - It was another year of success for the Jay County cheerleading squads at the state fair.

Three of the four county groups finished in the top three of their divisions at the Indiana State Fair cheerleading competition Saturday with the Jay County High School junior varsity and the East Jay Middle School squads finishing as runners-up. The JCHS varsity took third place in the large varsity division.

West Jay Middle School finished in eighth place.

Champions were perennial favorite Hamilton Southeastern in large varsity, Carmel in junior varsity and Eastside (Anderson) in junior high.

JCHS coach Mindy Weaver, whose squads are consistently among the best at the state fair, had high praise for her varsity group'

"The varsity, I think it was one of the most perfect routines I've ever had," Weaver said. "We hit even better than we hit Friday night (for the preview show at JCHS), and I thought we hit pretty well Friday night."

"I think it's one of the best routines I've ever been a part of at Jay County High School. And the girls were very happy. When they were done, they knew that they had done well. ... Things just clicked.

"The varsity came off knowing they did the best they could. That made me feel really good."

The varsity squad earned scores of 75.5, 74 and 71.5 from the three judges out of a possible 90 points. Weaver said her group was solid in the area of precision, as it usually is, and saw improvement in other categories over previous years.

"We scored really well and I thought we did really well in things like voices, projection and showmanship," said Weaver. "The girls were really pretty confident this year."

Jay County's junior varsity squad was in the same range of scores with 76, 73.5 and 73 out of 90.

"The JV had a nice routine," said Weaver of her all-freshman group. "They had maybe three bobbles a little bit, but nothing big.

"They seemed a little nervous, but they had a very nice routine too.

"For both squads, the overall execution ... scored high. And perfection of routine."[[In-content Ad]]