After finishing top-five in the last two state meets, the Lake Oconee Academy competition cheer team comes into its 2022-23 season with all the momentum it needs for a top-place finish.
Both the middle school and high school teams have been practicing two to three days a week since practice began at the beginning of June.
The middle school girls have an outside group called Star Athletics come in and teach them skills like stunting and tumbling while the high school team has mainly focused on its routine.
Head coach Jennifer Blythe acknowledged how important it is to get the middle school program accustomed to high school-level performances.
“We’ve finally gotten to the point where the high school team is pretty successful, so we’re trying to build from the bottom up at this point,” Blythe said. “Everyone works two to three days a week on the different elements that are on a score sheet.”
During the 2018-2019 school year, the Lady Titans finished fourth in the GHSA State Cheerleading Competition in their first year competing at the varsity level.
After the pandemic disrupted the 2019-2020 season, Lake Oconee Academy came back last year and finished third in the state competition.
Blythe believes this season has the potential to be the team’s best yet.
“If we can keep everything going the way we have been, this is probably the most talented team we’ve had,” she said. “In the past, we have scored well with not much tumbling at all with only half the team tumbling. This year, we’ll have full-squad tumbling, so we really hope that we finally get over that hump and win state or at least finish as the runner-ups.”
The Lady Titans’ competitive cheer team welcomes four incoming freshmen to a full roster of 15 girls.
On top of that, the team returns multiple rising seniors that know what it takes to be successful. Of those older girls, Adalyn Greer and Lindsey Herring come into this year as two of the top 30 cheerleaders that could potentially earn All-State honors.
Blythe understands that her core group of seniors this year will be instrumental in the team’s success this season.
“We’ve got a good core of seniors that have been cheering with me since the sixth grade,” Blythe said. “They know what’s important to have a routine score well, and they know how to get it done, so I’m excited to see what they can do this season.”