Schools go for gold this weekend at state cheer championships

One year ago, winter storms hit downstate Bloomington so hard they forced the cancellation of the first day of action at the IHSA Competitive Cheerleading state finals.

That left teams only one day - and one chance - to nail their routines.

This year, the weather looks cooperative, allowing 50 schools and more than 750 cheerleaders to descend on the U.S. Cellular Coliseum for today's preliminary rounds.

On Saturday, the top 10 scorers from Friday will enter the finals with a clean slate.

Teams will compete in four classes: small; medium; large and coed. In coed, Elk Grove High School is the only suburban school returning as a defending champion.

In fact, Coach Jeffrey Siegal and his Grenadiers are trying to make it four for four. Elk Grove has been the only coed champ since the IHSA began the state series in 2006.

Siegal thinks it'll be tough to pull off a four-peat.

"In all my years of coaching, including at Buffalo Grove High School and here at Elk Grove, this is the strongest coed division ever," Siegal says.

His squad, however, returns a veteran group. Fifteen of its 20 members have competed at the state level, and with nine guys on the floor it looks like a college team.

Giving them a run for their money will be last year's runner-up, Downers Grove South, as well as Palatine High School, whose team finished third, and Libertyville, which placed third behind the Pirates at sectionals.

Palatine Coach Kristine Knickerbocker says unseating Elk Grove will be a challenge, but her team of 20 cheerleaders, including five young men, has a routine that mixes single based and mixed group stunts, along with difficult tumbling moves.

"We have to just worry about our routine," Knickerbocker says, "and nailing it."

Among the medium sized teams, Grayslake North and Wauconda high schools were the only two to score more than 90 points, followed by Richmond Burton High School, whose cheerleaders earned their first trip to state.

Rounding out the top five at the Belvidere sectional were Antioch, whose team placed fourth overall at state last year, and Grant High School in Fox Lake, which finished fifth in the sectional.

"We start out with four, single-based stunting, all done by girls, which has become our signature move," says Antioch coach Robin Gwinn. "Normally, you only see the coed teams doing single-based stunting."

Among large schools, Stevenson High School enters as one of the favorites, having won conference and sectional titles already, and riding their 25th successive state berth.

"We're just hoping to continue that tradition of excellence," says first year coach, Jessica Murphy.

Following them at the Belvidere sectional, were Lake Zurich and Jacobs High School in Algonquin, with Fremd placing fourth, with a score of 87.87.

At the Downers Grove South sectional, Rolling Meadows High School earned the top spot for large schools, followed by Conant, Buffalo Grove and Maine West.

"It's the first time we've been able to qualify since the IHSA began the series," says Rolling Meadows Coach Patti Hein. "We're thrilled."

Of area large schools, only Conant returns to state as a top 10 finisher last year. Coached by Dana Naumann, her squad graduated 12 seniors last year, but her new team is loaded with talent, she says.

"We're very young," Naumann says, "but we've worked very hard to get here."