On Friday, February 7, high school cheerleading teams from across Illinois took the mat to compete in the IHSA Competitive Cheerleading State Finals to bring home a state title. After an exciting send off, the St. Edward Cheerleading Team made their way to Bloomington, Illinois to hopefully earn their school title. After an amazing routine and scoring 89.07, the small- but mighty – St. Edward Cheer Team brought home the 3rd place title in the Small Team division. 

This wasn’t the first time the cheer team made an appearance at the state final competition. Just last year, the team traveled down to state and got 14th in the Medium Division. But this is the first time in St. Edward Competition Cheer history that the team made the podium. “It was very rewarding because all of the hard work we put into this season was finally paid off.” Says sophomore Emily Sarullo. 

The state final competition takes over the course of two days. The first day all teams that qualified compete. Only the top 10 remaining teams get to advance to the second day to compete for the state title. Students at school during the competition all gathered in the LRC on Friday to cheer on the cheer team and watch them perform their routine. Senior Natalie Stras explains how exciting watching the cheerleaders was “It was super exciting. It really shows how much school spirit we have at St. Ed’s and how much we support the girls”.