The EHS varsity cheer team placed second at the ICCA State Championships last weekend, despite a difficult season thus far. 

“This year we’ve had so many obstacles due to people getting hurt or out with COVID or quarantined,” senior Madison Dmochowski said. “With that, we’ve had to change our routine multiple times, which was frustrating, but we all pushed through it.” 

And this year’s routine, according to Dmochowski, is difficult.

“Our routine is around three minutes and it includes a music and word section,” Dmochowski said. “During this routine, we do tumbling, jumps, stunts, pyramid, and motions or dance…We are always moving and there’s never a moment we aren’t doing something.”

Competition schedules only add to the difficulty. 

The team leaves for a competition at 7 a.m., finishing the day almost 12 hours later, according to senior Allison Toma. 

Though the routine is tough, completing it brings a great sense of pride for the team.

“For this competition I would say that the best part of it was walking off the mat after we competed, knowing we just put our all into that routine,” Dmochoski said. “It is one of the best feelings being proud of how you did and how well your teammates did.”

They performed well, but the team still felt disappointed with their placement.

“After our performance we were confident and thought we would place higher, but we were still pleased with the outcome,” senior Tia Thiems said. 

According to Thiems, the team’s greatest competitor is Carl Sandburg from Orland Park, Illinois. The two teams have alternated between first and second place at the ICCA competitions for years, continuing this year when EHS took second. 

“It definitely helps to push us to improve and better ourselves,” Thiems said. “We know if we work hard we can beat them, and when we don’t, it pushes us to work even harder to beat them and other teams at IHSA State Finals…”

Though the team did not beat Carl Sandburg this year, their devotion to their sport and their team carries on.

​​”We were definitely wishing for a higher placing considering we gave it our all out on the floor, but second still is a big accomplishment for our team considering all of the obstacles we have overcome this season,” Toma said. “It really opened our eyes and showed us what we need to work towards for the rest of the season and how we will be able to accomplish our goals.”