Valley cheer squads prep for State Tournament

Yahoo

18-02-2025

NILES, Ohio (WKBN) — Valley cheer squads who qualified for the State Tournament gathered at CheerTime Athletics in Niles for a pump-up rally before traveling to the championships Monday afternoon.
The championships are in the Columbus-area and put on by the Ohio Association of Secondary School Administrators.
Fitch's cheer team is looking to go back-to-back after winning a state title last season.
'Even in school, when we made regionals this year and we qualified for State, there was more buzz and people asking about, are you going to win State again this year?' said Fitch head cheer coach Julie Williams.
Other teams such as Canfield and Poland have each made school history by advancing to the state finals for the first time ever.
'It's pretty awesome, pretty amazing,' said Canfield head cheer coach Adrianna Ambrosia-Gorge. 'When I took over the program four years ago that was my goal, was to make it.'
'The girls are on cloud nine, as they should be, because we didn't even know what regional's would be like,' said Poland head cheer coach Anne Marie Hurdley.
Girard is also making a return to states after placing fourth at last years tournament.
'This is like the week we've been waiting for since summer,' said Girard head cheer coach Jenna Mazzupappa. 'We learned our routine back then, so we've just been practicing it and perfecting it.'
Sebring has a deep history of cheer success at the state level but are just returning to the finals in over 10 seasons.
'This is a really big deal and we haven't had a state winner in 11 years,' said Sebring head cheer coach Cassy Wynn. 'They're dedicated to this squad, dedicated to me as a coach, dedicated to their school and community.'
Fitch starts at 9 a.m. on Sunday at Big Walnut High School in Division Two.
Canfield starts at 10:35 a.m. Saturday at Big Walnut HS in Division Three.
Poland starts at 5:10 p.m. Saturday at Big Walnut HS in Division Four. Girard also performs in the same division at 6:15 p.m. Saturday.
Sebring starts at 6:20 p.m. in Division Six also at Big Walnut on Saturday.
Events run Friday in Dublin to Saturday and Sunday in Sunbury with different Valley teams participating each day.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.