MOCKSVILLE — Remembering its second-place finish during last years’ North Carolina Cheerleading Coaches Association state championship, the Richmond cheerleading team put together a title-winning routine Saturday.
The 37th annual NCCCA state championship meet was held at Davie County High School and the Raider cheerleaders brought home their second championship trophy this school year.
Adding onto their Sandhills Athletic Conference championship from December, the Raiders were crowned the Division I Non-Tumbling Co-Ed state champions.
Coached by Meredith Hood and assisted by Whitney Shuler, this year’s state title-winning team was made up of 15 cheerleaders.
They were — senior Sophia Chavis (senior), juniors Nevaeh Harris, Kylie Hood, Riley Howell, James Lewis, Trinity Lockhart, Mattie Moss, Addison O’Neal and Bailey Rheault, sophomores Makayla Brown, Maddy Burnett, Laney Dawkins, Jada Scott and Emma Williams and freshman Camden Nolan.
“Everyone did really well today and worked really hard this week to prepare,” Meredith Hood said. “We’ve had a lot of games and things going on this week so we made the most of our practice time. Our stunts and cheers were really good and I’m so proud of this team.
“This team gets along really well and they all love each other,” she continued. “Sometimes cheer is luck, but they worked hard to make things come together this year. This is lots of fun, especially for the cheerleaders who sometimes don’t feel appreciated. I’m extremely happy for them, and it proves why we work so hard.”
Richmond edged Purnell Swett High School for the state title, finishing with a final score of 56.5. Teams were judged on three categories — cheer, building and overall performance.
The Raiders earned 25.7 points for their cheer, 19.5 points for building and 11.3 points for overall performance.
A panel of judges noted Richmond had “great use of the floor throughout,” “good effort overall to lead (the) crowd” and that its “spacing was consistent.”
Competing in her first competition this season, Lockhart joined her teammates Saturday. She was unable to compete last month due to being in a car accident.
“It was a little bit of a surprise, but I knew we could do it because we’ve been practicing countless hours four or five days a week,” Lockhart said.
“It felt good to be able to compete because the last competition was a little bit of a heartbreak because I couldn’t be out there with the team,” she added. “Today was a really good feeling being able to help my team.”
Moss, a two-year varsity cheerleader, was part of last year’s team that took second place behind Franklin High School.
“What’s special about this win is how discouraged we were last year that we didn’t get it, and then this year we redeemed ourselves and won the title,” Moss shared. “We definitely felt better about our routine.
“We all were hyping each other up and that really helped us. That made us ready to hit the routine and win the title.”
For Chavis, the team’s only senior, Saturday’s state championship win was the cherry on top of her final high school competition.
“I was happy when they announced that we won, but a little shocked, too, because of what happened during our routine,” Chavis said. “Overall, I think it was well deserved.
“This was my last competition ever and it’s really good to go out a state champion,” she closed. “All of the hard work that we’ve put in since last year paid off in the end.”
Below are photos of Richmond’s warmups and state championship-winning routine taken by sports editor Kyle Pillar.
