A "Cheer"ful Task!

This was taken right before their performance.

Sunday afternoon I had the rare opportunity to cheer for the West Jefferson Cheerleaders as they competed at the State Championship at Stroh Center in Bowling Green, Ohio.  I was a teacher and guidance counselor for 36 years in West Jefferson and then retired in 2009.  West Jefferson is a small village west of Columbus, Ohio.  The school district has between 1200-1400 students K-12... I consider it small.  After I retired, I got married and moved to Toledo...so did not get to return to see how things were going in the school.  When I heard (through Facebook) that the high school cheerleaders were in the state competition in Bowling Green, just 22 minutes from my house...I knew I would have to go.

Of course, I was running late...and of course, there was lots of traffic...and of course my parking space was in the last row...and of course...it was a windy, bone chilling day in Bowling Green.  But, I made it...half sprinted up the steps to the platform to get a good view so I could take some pictures.  Being short sometimes has its advantages in squeezing through busy crowds...but there was no way I was going to be able to get a good spot.  It was then someone called my name and said that the girls were competing next and we could sit in the section reserved for people rooting for their teams. (We would then move out of the seats and the next team's groupies would move in.)


Getting ready to begin!

I couldn't take a video with my SLR camera because my lens was too long and I had no time to change it...so this video is taken with my point and shoot.  This performance is amazing!



I wish I could have taken more
pictures like this, because there
were three cheerleaders doing this.



Some of the guy athletes showed up to support the cheerleaders.


So, how did they do?  You are now looking at the 2014 Division III Mount State Champions!  Way to go!  This was not the first time they have accomplished this.  They were also State Champs in 2008. 2009, 2012, and now 2014!  That's a lot of talent in this small school district.  Congratulations to the girls, head coach, Missy Roberts Jester and assistant coach, Jenny Widener Hockenbery (neither coach cheered in high school.)