Local Cheer Squads Advance To State Competition
BIRMINGHAM- The Discovery Panthers and the Sparkman Senators each turned in a first-place efforts at the 2019 North Super Regional Cheer Competition held at the Crossplex in Birmingham, which is a prelude to the State Competition set for Dec. 14.
Discovery took first place in the Small Jr. High Division while the defending 2019 World Champion Senators won first place in both the Varsity Coed and JV Coed Divisions.
Led by head coach Emily Parker, the Lady Panthers led the squads from North Alabama with an outstanding routine from start to finish. Meanwhile, crosstown cheer squad Liberty finished fourth and nearby Monrovia fifth in the division competition.
In Varsity Coed, the perennial winners of Sparkman, led by head coach Lisa Aderholt, jumped into the lead among the two competitions with spectacular performances in the Coed Divisions among varsity and JV.
In the remaining divisions, the placements included: James Clemens, second-7A Varsity, Bob Jones, fifth-7A Varsity, James Clemens, third-6A-7A Game Day, Madison Academy, 20th-4A-5A Game Day, Liberty, fourth-JH Game Day, and Sparkman Middle, third-Large Jr. High.
Each of the squads have now qualified for the AHSAA State Cheer Competition scheduled to be held in Hanceville at Wallace State-Hanceville Community College. The AHSAA is working closely with Varsity Spirit to sponsor a non-bias, professionally administered event assuring that the judging panel will be representative of all entities of the cheerleading industry.
In addition to the North Super Regional, the North Alabama Regional was recently held at Sparkman High with the host squad of Senators winning both the Small Varsity and Game Day Coed Divisions for the 30th consecutive year. The junior varsity squad also picked up a first place position in the JV Coed Division.
James Clemens was a multi-division winner taking first place in both the Super Varsity and Game Day Varsity Non-Building Divisions. Bob Jones also participated and was first in the Medium Varsity Division.
The Universal Cheerleaders Association held its Southern Championships in Birmingham and the Jets of James Clemens walked away with two first place trophies winning both the Super Varsity Traditional and Super Varsity Game Day Non-Building Divisions.
