– Photo submitted || (Above) The Marshall County High School cheerleading squad takes a break from competition at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.

MCHS cheerleaders compete in semifinals

Marshall County High
School Cheerleaders
perform at Nationals

By Ann Beckett
Tribune-Courier Sports
sports@tribunecourier.com

Orlando, fla.– Marshall County High School Varsity Cheerleaders returned Monday, Feb. 15 from the National High School Cheerleading Championship sponsored by the Universal Cheerleaders Association at Walt Disney World.

On Friday afternoon, they practiced at a local gym with several of the best teams from Kentucky as they prepared for preliminaries on Saturday morning at Hollywood Studios’ Indiana Jones Theater. This is their second year to attend the NHSCC. Not making it out of the prelims last year, their goal was to advance to the semi-finals.

After competing in an open air theater with temperatures around 40 degrees, they were pleased with their performance and anxiously waited for the announcement of semi-finalists on Saturday with the other 37 squads who were in the Medium Varsity Division 1 competition. The first four finalists that would automatically advance were announced as anticipation grew the next 12 teams to advance were announced. Finally, after naming 11 teams they called Marshall County High School to screams and tears of joy from the squad.

Achieving their year-long goal of reaching the semi-finals at the largest cheer competition in the United States, they began to prepare for semi-finals as they headed back to the hotel for some well needed rest.

On Sunday they competed in the semi-finals at the Jostens Center at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports. After a very strong practice and warm-up, they were ready to perform in front of a packed house. The routine went well as they scored nearly perfect on the cheer segment. During the last five seconds of the routine, the final pyramid fell on one side. Missing the finals by only two squads and 4.5 points, they know what they have to do to make it to finals next year.

MCHS cheerleaders were in Bowling Green Saturday to compete in the KAPOS State competition where they placed third in the Medium Varsity Division. The cheerleaders and coaches would like to thank the administration, parents, students, and Marshall County fans who supported them throughout the year.

They were back in action on Monday night at the start of the Fourth District Basketball Tournament.