After capturing back-to-back state championships in traditional competition cheer, Lake Oconee Academy enters the 2026 season with another experienced group determined to keep the program’s winning tradition alive.
With veteran athletes returning to both varsity competition squads, the Titans believe they have the talent and leadership necessary to contend for another traditional title while continuing to build on last year’s success in game day competition.
LOA head coach Lori Beth Brakebill said preparations for both teams have been underway since late May, also giving both plenty of time to complete choreography, continue to practice regularly, and install routines ahead of the fall season.
Although the Titans graduated five seniors from last year’s championship squad, Brakebill said she believes this year’s senior class is more than ready to assume leadership roles.
The traditional competition team features five seniors who have spent years developing within LOA’s cheer program.
“We are very blessed to have a wonderful middle school competition cheer program,” Brakebill said. “These girls, the current seniors, I have taught them since they were in eighth grade. All of them have been part of our LOA competition cheerleading program since they were in sixth grade.”
Brakebill recently showed the team videos from their middle school competitions, giving the athletes a chance to see just how much they have improved.
“To see the growth and development that they have made over the years was just amazing,” she said. “I cannot wait to see what they do this year. They are definitely ready.”
Among the team’s senior leaders is Anna Caroline Todd, who will compete Aug. 1 in Columbus for Cheerleader of the Year honors after being selected as a top-30 finalist among the GHSA’s Classes A through 4A.
Todd will also compete for a spot on the all-state cheerleading team.
“She has incredible talent and is a wonderful leader for us,” Brakebill said. “I’m very excited to have her as a senior leader this year.”
LOA opens its competition season Sept. 12 at Morgan County before competing in four regular-season events. The Titans will then travel to sectionals at Vidalia High School before concluding the traditional competition season at the GHSA State Championships in Macon.
For Brakebill, success comes down to precise execution.
“I believe the key to a winning routine is to execute, to be clean, to perform, and to give the judges that overall routine composition and impression,” she said.
The Titans are also entering their second season in the GHSA’s game day competition division after an impressive 2025 debut.
LOA advanced to the state finals and finished among the top 10 in the state during the program’s inaugural season, and all 21 members of that squad return this year.
“It is a newer competitive cheer division for GHSA,” Brakebill explained. “Last year, in our very first year, we were a state finalist, and we were top 10.”
LOA will also host its first-ever game day competition Oct. 17, before competing for a state championship in December in Macon. The game day division emphasizes crowd leading, crowd engagement, and showmanship.
“They are very well equipped to keep our tradition alive and to keep building our legacy,” Brakebill said of LOA’s cheerleaders. “They are incredibly talented, and they definitely have the skills to win a third straight state title. We just need to go out on the mat and execute in November.”