IHSA cheerleading finals are set

The IHSA preliminaries are over, and a fair number of suburban cheerleading squads are alive to cheer in Saturday’s finals. Here’s where our suburban schools finished — remember, only the top 10 have moved on to the finals.

For complete results and Saturday’s lineup, visit ihsa.org.

Small schools

Timothy Christian, of Elmhurst, led all small schools on Friday. Lisle High School, the only other area contender in this group, came in 22nd.

Medium schools

St. Viator (2nd), Vernon Hills (3rd), Antioch (4th), Grayslake North (6th) and Wauconda (9th) all cracked the top 10 and will compete in the finals Saturday. Suburban schools that missed the cut are Prairie Ridge (11th), Crystal Lake Central (21st) and Fenton (23rd).

Large schools

Conant (2nd), Neuqua Valley (8th) and Stevenson (10th) are the only three Daily Herald-area schools to crack Saturday’s finals, a surprise because the division was crowded with suburban schools. Lake Zurich finished only 0.2 points off the pace, and Carmel was 0.66 points behind Stevenson.

Rolling Meadows was 13th. Jacobs, Glenbard North, St. Charles East and Naperville North were 16th-19th; and Glenbard West, Maine South, Hersey, Addison Trail and Warren Township wrapped up the division at 21st through 25th.

Coed

Cheerleaders from Grant High School in Fox Lake, who had to wait all day to be the last performers in the prelims, finished first in their division.

Buffalo Grove (3rd), Mundelein (4th), Downers Grove North (5th), Lake Park (6th), Barrington (7th) and Downers Grove South (9th) contributed to make suburban schools the powerhouses in this category.

How the rest of the suburban field finished: Niles North, 11; Elk Grove, 12; Bolingbrook, 13; Palatine, 15; South Elgin, 16; Streamwood, 18; Libertyville, 19; Batavia, 20; Bartlett, 21; St. Charles North, 25.

The finals are being held in the U.S. Coliseum, in Normal. One hundred schools scored high enough in last weekend’s sectionals to earn the trip downstate for the finals. Champions will be crowned Saturday in all four categories.