Local cheerleading squads big winners at state
Competition was tight at the IHSA cheerleading championships, with state titles decided by percentage points. But in the end, suburban teams delivered and many came home with top 10 finishes.
The finals took place on Saturday at U.S. Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington, where the top 10 teams advanced from the preliminaries — in small, medium, large and coed divisions — to compete for the state championship.
Lake Park High School's cheerleading team began a new era in the sport, by winning the coed division. For the last five years, since the IHSA began mounting a state series, Elk Grove High School's squad has dominated, winning the title all five years.
But this was Lake Park's year, having won the sectional at Streamwood High School one week ago, before winning the state championship, with a score of 90.14 out of a possible 100 points.
In the coed division, Libertyville came in second, followed by Mundelein in third and Buffalo Grove in fourth place. Other local schools to place included Barrington in seventh, Streamwood in eighth and Palatine High School in 10th.
“Cheerleading in the state of Illinois has been brought to a new level,” said Jeff Siegel, former Elk Grove coach who now coaches at Buffalo Grove. “There are just so many strong teams.”
Among large schools, Lake Zurich High School won the division, unseating last year's champion, Conant High School, by less than one-half of a percentage point.
“We feel great,” said Conant Coach Dana Musinski. “One of our goals was to hit our routine with no deductions and they did just that. It's really hard to repeat. Our girls put their hearts on the floor, and I'm so proud of them.”
Lake Zurich's team, under the direction of Coach Pam Bonnevier, recommitted themselves to excellence, after narrowly missing to win the North Suburban Conference Lake Division title in January.
Determined to work harder, the squad won the Grayslake North sectional and entered the state competition with the highest score. They stayed on a roll, scoring a 93.96 during the finals, to win the state championship, with the highest marks of the day.
The only other area large schools to crack the top 10 were St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights, which placed 9th and Glenbard West from Glen Ellyn, which finished in 10th.
In the medium division, Antioch High School finished as state runner-up by the day's slimmest of margins, scoring 91.10 behind Lemont High School, which earned 91.18, to grab their fourth state title in six years.
Prairie Ridge High School in Crystal Lake placed third while Wauconda came in fourth. Vernon Hills and Grayslake North also made it to the top 10, finishing in 8th and 9th places respectively.
In the small school division, Timothy Christian in Elmhurst earned their second straight top 10 finish at state, coming in 7th.