On Friday, Jan. 13, the Antioch Community High School cheerleading program participated in its annual Northern Lake County Conference championships. The NLCC Championships were held at Lakes Community High School and consisted of a total of six teams.
Coming into this conference competition the Sequoit’s JV program hoped to keep their winning streak alive. The week prior they won the D117 invitational which included 14 teams from all over the state. On the other hand, Varsity urgently needed to start winning as they were coming off of a tough loss from the same invitational.
The Antioch cheer program as a whole came into their conference competition with high hopes and lots of positive energy. Junior Addison Pyburn believes that at prior competitions the varsity team let their anxiety get the best of them, even before stepping onto the mat. However, for them, conference was a whole new mindset.
“We were all playing games before we went on rather than focusing on being scared to compete,” Pyburn said. “We were just trying to have more fun before we went on and focus on having fun instead of getting worked up about our performance.”
The varsity team believed that this was the reason they stepped onto the mat and did not leave anything behind. Not only was there more positivity coming into this conference competition, but there was an electric atmosphere to go with it. Junior Kylie Christenson, who competes on the JV cheerleading team, believes that when athletes walk into a room and the energy is amazing it leads to a better overall performance.
“The environment in the gym during conference is always a lot more energetic than other competitions,” Christensen said. “However, this year the energy when we walked out onto the mat was something I have never experienced before.”
Although there was more pressure on the athletes shoulders coming into this competition, both teams came away with huge success. Varsity was able to secure their first win against their conference competition and achieved their highest score of the season. Following in varsity’s footsteps, the JV program also placed first securing their third win of the season and receiving their best score yet.
Both teams were pleased to win alongside each other, making this the first time in Antioch’s history that there was an Antioch sweep at conference. Junior Katie Decremer was not shocked that JV placed first, but was very pleased that the varsity team was able to pull through and experience this conference win.
“It felt amazing because [varsity] hasn’t been doing the best and JV has been doing really good,” Decremer said. “So getting a win with them really showed how as a program we are successful and can bring it when it matters.”
As the JV’s season comes to a close, shortly after their victory at conference, they celebrate placing first in three of their five competitions so far. Not only did the JV cheerleading team place first, alongside varsity, but by doing so they ended their season on a high note.
The Antioch cheer program has been on riding on a high since this competition and hopes that this leads into the rest of their season. Antioch varsity cheerleading hopes for redemption down at the IHSA Cheerleading State finals that will be taking place on Feb. 3 at Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington.
