Alaina Goldberg, Managing Editor

The Penn-Trafford High School competitive cheer Mat team is off to Nationals after finishing in sixth place at state finals.

    This is the first year where there are two separate teams: a Game Day team along with the usual Mat team, according to senior competition team captain Sarah Kunkle.

    “All of the cheerleaders are invited to tryout for the competition team,” Kunkle said. “Out of the 28 from Game Day, the coaches then select 20 to be on the Mat team.”

    Senior captain Chloe Smith said that the Mat team has more skills in stunts and tumbling, but the Game Day team is about the basics of cheerleading, like being engaged with the crowd and having spirit while performing.

    Head coach Kristie Lynn said that the teams have made huge strides since August with their stunting abilities. Since this is the first year the Game Day team has competed, there is not much to compare it to.

    “Our girls have done very well in this action-packed three-minute competition that combines your typical cheering for a football game with competitive cheerleading,” Lynn said. “We were hesitant to take on another routine and division, but are so glad we did.”

    Kunkle added that the Mat team has also been successful this year. At WPIALS on Jan. 5, they placed fourth out of 12 teams, which is impressive  when looking at the teams they competed against.

    “The growth from even our first competition in October is obvious to any spectator,” Lynn said.

    The team has already met the expectations of qualifying for the state and national championships, and now they need to be competitive in these two settings by moving on to meet the other elite teams in the finals, according to Lynn.

    “There is always stuff for us to improve on during the season so we are the best that we can be for states and nationals,” Smith said.

    Lynn said that freshman Ella Coy put it as, “Now that we have earned our bids it is not the time to relax and be content with just getting there. It is time to work even harder and make sure we don’t waste those bids.”     

    The Mat team placed sixth at State Finals on Jan. 11 and 12. Kunkle added that the goal was to place higher than 9th place, as they did last year.

    After states, the mat team will travel to Orlando, Florida from Feb. 7-11 to compete in Nationals.

    “This is the first time PTHS cheer will be competing at Nationals and we are excited to see how we do,” Smith said.

 Lynn said that after last year’s performances they knew it was time to take their program to the next level and compete nationally.  

    “We are still true to who we’ve always been as a team from the start of our competitive program: clean routine, super strong cheer portion, etc…but the level of difficulty in our stunts and pyramid is far beyond what we’ve ever been able to accomplish in past years,” Lynn said.   

    Smith said that the goal of the teams is just to perform to the best of their ability in both routines.

    “Our coaches are so proud of the hard work and more importantly, the attitudes of our athletes,” Lynn said.

        Lynn added that the sport is year-round and the girls have never wavered in their commitment to the team and its goals.      

     “The talent that the team has this year is much more than years past. We have so much potential to succeed this year and hopefully the talent of the team will keep growing in the future years,” Kunkle said.