CAMERON — Going for its second straight Sandhills Athletic Conference championship trophy, the Richmond Senior High School cheerleading team was a couple points shy Saturday.
Competing against four of the six other teams in the conference, the Raider cheerleaders finished in a tie for second place with Pinecrest High School.
Richmond and Pinecrest had matching scores of 241 points out of a possible 300 points in the co-ed non-tumbling competition.
Winning the SAC championship was Union Pines High School, the host program. The Vikings’ overall score was not available at the time of publication.
Taking third place was Scotland High School, followed by Lee County High School in fourth place. Neither Hoke County or Southern Lee high schools participated.
Members of this year’s Richmond cheer team include seniors Nevaeh Harris, Kylie Hood, Riley Howell, James Lewis, Trinity Lockhart, Mattie Moss, Addison O’Neal and Bailey Rheault, juniors Makayla Brown, Madalyn Burnett, Laney Dawkins, Emma Williams and sophomores Camden Nolan and Anna Stogner.
Each team performed a routine around 2:30 that was scored by a panel of three judges. Each judge awarded three scores for different categories — building, cheer and overall.
Out of the 150 possible points for building, which encompassed partner stunts and pyramids, Richmond secured 122 points. Comments included “nice and clean in the first stunt” and “watch timing in flips.”
Richmond notched 76 points out of a total 90 possible points in the cheer category, wowing the judges with “nice and loud (cheers) with lots of energy and movement.”
In the third category, overall, the Raider cheerleaders secured 43 of the possible 60 points. This section included jumps, motions, dance and category impressions.
“Our girls did a great job today during their whole performance,” head coach Meredith Hood said. “I do think they got tired a little bit toward the end. But they had great timing and energy, they didn’t fall and they hit all of their stunts.
“I didn’t see any of the other teams perform except for (Union Pines),” she added. “So I really can’t be a fair judge, but I do think our girls put together a routine that was worthy of first place.”
Following the team performances, one cheerleader from each program participated in a separate competition for Cheerleader of the Year honors. Senior Kylie Hood represented Richmond.
Winning that contest was Madi Presley of Pinecrest. Ariana Thompson of Union Pines was named Coach of the Year.
The final accolades handed out were All-Conference selections. Each team got two roster spots and chosen by the coaches for Richmond were Kylie Hood and Lockhart.
“This means a lot because we all came out here and cheered our hearts out,” Kylie Hood said. “It’s an honor to have this recognition given to me and I think Trinity and I both work really hard at practice and games.
“I have a lot of great memories as a Richmond cheerleader, but these last couple of playoff games have been the best,” she added. “They’ve been fun and cheering on a winning team has made it easy to do.”
“All-Conference is an honor from the coaches and this means a lot to me,” Lockhart shared. “We’ve worked hard together all year to be able to put together the best competition we could. I think this shows Kylie and I’s hard work, leadership and dedication.
“My favorite cheer memories have been each football game,” she closed. “Every Friday night we’re out there under the green lights cheering for the football team. It’s been really special.”
Below are photos of Richmond’s routine at Saturday’s SAC championship competition, taken by sports editor Kyle Pillar.
