APEX, N.C. — Bringing home some hardware from the North Carolina Cheerleading Coaches Association state cheerleading championship has become a habit for the Rockingham Middle School cheer squad.
Competing in the annual state championship at Apex Friendship High School on Saturday, the Lady Rockets and first-year head coach Kendall Hornbuckle earned second place in the middle school non-tumbling division.
A year ago, at the same competition, Rockingham took the overall spot with former head coach Ashley Lupfer.
Durant Road Middle School (Raleigh) won first place this year, and the Lady Rockets were followed by Swift Creek Middle School (Clayton, N.C.) and Waynesville Middle School (Waynesville, N.C.)
The non-tumbling bracket means that cheerleaders may only perform stunts, jumps and floor routines.
“Overall, I am so proud of the girls. This year has been a whirlwind of learning how to coach cheerleading, while also being a second-year teacher,” Hornbuckle said. “I am so proud of the girls. We had to work around a lot of different schedules because many of the girls are in Beta Club, so they were also practicing for their convention. We also had basketball games to work around.
“I also only have dance experience, so this whole year has been a learning experience for me,” she added. “All of girls helped so much pulling from their experience on the team and on competitive cheer teams. I also had a lot of help from Meredith Hood, the varsity Raider coach — she’s really helped me and taken me under her wing.”
Members of this year’s second-place Lady Rockets cheerleading team are: eighth graders Molly Erwin, Maggie Gillespie, Cayden Hood, Destiny Isler, Myliah Jeansimon, Savannah Jordan, Jaleah Leak, Olivia Meacham, Allie Miller, Ashley Murphy, Jayd Saunders, Synasia Tillman and Abby WIlliams.
Seventh grade members include Savannah Bass, Ryleigh Driggers, Makailah Jackson and Kaley Scholl. Rounding out the squad are sixth graders Kylie Hood, Cate Kinsey and Karley Simmons.
“Everyone worked so hard up until the last moments before the competition,” Hornbuckle said. “They worked so hard as a team despite everything we had to go through. I just hope all of the girls know I am so proud of them.
“If everything works out, we will be ready for first place next year,” she concluded.
