Twenty four teams in two days. How is this Lakes cheer team gonna end up on top? Seniors Gabbi Winters and Hannah Loehde were ready for state and placed a program high 7th place. They took the three-hour trip to Illinois State University to compete Friday and Saturday for the first time in Lakes cheer history.

Lakes only got there because of what they accomplished at sectionals. “Sectionals is more nerve-wracking than state because in the end we just want to make it to state and the only way to do that is to do well at sectionals,” said Winters. Loehde has a different opinion on sectionals and state. “I think state will definitely be more nerve wracking because there’s a lot of pressure to make it to day two because we all really want it because Lakes has never done that before,” exclaimed Loehde. Loehde’s wish came true as they not only made day two they placed 7th.

“The team’s mindset has shifted to doing everything we have to in order to do well. We know some practices will be exhausting but we are fully prepared to do whatever it takes,” said Winters. Gabbi knew as a senior that if they wanted to place high at state they had to do whatever it took to get there. “From the beginning of this season, Lakes have never made it to day two of state. Now I think that we definitely have a chance this year because we’ve been scoring really high at every competition,” said Loehde. Every senior on this team believed in themselves and one another which is why they broke records this year.

Luckily the girls’ senior year ended on a really good note. For a lot of them, this is their last time cheering.“Yes, I have cheered for almost 13 years now and I do not plan on continuing to cheer in college,” said Winters. This is the same for most seniors including Loehde who will also stop cheering. Sadly this means their season is over.

However, the seniors keep high hopes for the future of the program. Loehde said, “The girls are gonna be great. We have a bunch of leaders and a very good group of cheerleaders to keep this program on a high.” Even though the team consisted of nine seniors. This year was a great stepping stone for the program that could cause Lakes Cheer to start and become one of the best in Illinois.

This Lakes team will go down in history as the best Cheer team ever at Lakes because of things they have never once before accomplished and changed the record books.