The Tyrone Varsity Cheerleading squad competed in the 9th annual Nittany Valley Spirit Rally competition at the Jaffa Mosque in Altoona on March 16, 2014. The team received first place by default, but scored high on their score sheets.

“The atmosphere of the competition was great,” said sophomore Kendra Walker, “the special seating for the performing teams gave parents and friends the opportunity to get up close to watch.”

There are 28 divisions a team can choose to compete in and over 40 squads that attended the competition this past Sunday.

The Golden Eagles were unfortunately the lone team in their division.  Therefore they automatically received first place.

Although encouraging comments and thoughts of their performance from teammates and coaches led the squad to believe they had a successful competition in the end.

“Being the only team in our division can cause relaxation in your efforts. However the entire squad went out and gave it their all and they performed great,” said head coach Kera Walk, “the stunts were all hit and the projection was loud. When they hit the final mount, which we had to change last minute, I was extremely proud of every one of them.”

After their loss at the previous competition in Bald Eagle the team made many changes to their routine to increase style and difficultly in their dances and stunts for more points.

The ending mount, which was recently a backflip into a full prep, was innovated to a twist landing in a split, and bounce onto her back, and finally ending in a heel stretch.

The squad also added in three basket tosses to their performance which increased both difficult on stunts, style, and technique.

“I think the quick change we had to the last mount and routine was a huge obstacle for us,” freshman cheerleader Azia Barnett expresses her thoughts on the changes, “It wasn’t going up at practices and I was very nervous for it, but we got it up and I’m very proud of the team.”

This competition marks the end of the 2013 cheerleading season. Tryouts for any interested girls are set for April 8, 9, and 10 at the Tyrone High School Gym from 6-8.

Sign ups are in the Athletic office for any student planning to participate on the squad in the 2014 school year.