The Alliance High School cheerleaders competed at the 2013 Nebraska State Cheer and Dance Championships in Grand Island, Nebraska, on February 18, 2013.

The competing squad consisted of seniors Shelby Ackerman, Ellie Applegarth, Morgan Boots, Megan Gould, juniors Lynette Hillyer, Madisen Morrison, Ashley Quick, Elizabeth Olvera, sophomore Aaliyah Dunn, and freshman Jazlyn Hausmann. Tara Quick and Danielle Swanson are the coaches.

The Alliance High School cheerleaders decided to attend the State Competition as they had done very well at their local competition, and they were curious to see if they could be competitive at the State level. This squad of cheerleaders also wanted to show the rest of the state that the Alliance High School cheerleaders were just as good as any other squad in the state. This was the first year the Alliance High cheerleaders performed at the State Competition.

The cheerleaders performed an original hip-hop dance. The cheerleaders had two weeks to choreograph and perfect the routine before they presented it to the judges. The routine was judged on the creativeness of the choreography, technique, group execution, and the overall effect, such as costuming, music, and the audience’s response. Senior Megan Gould said, “It was a major accomplishment to finally perform it for a huge crowd.”

The Alliance High School cheerleaders placed sixth overall in the Class B Hip-Hop competition. Megan Gould said, “ Although our score doesn’t show it, we did our best, and we got a lot of compliments. People were shocked we didn’t place higher.” Senior Ellie Applegarth said, “I was extremely pleased with our energy and crowd response to the dance. Our hard work paid off.” Coach Danielle Swanson said [She] thought the cheerleaders did’… an AWESOME job at competition.” Swanson added, “My true feeling is that they should have placed.  Yes, we had a few errors, but so did the other teams.  Our girl’s dance was more complex than some of the other schools.  After our dance, we had other teams tell us how much they liked our dance.  Overall it was a great experience and will be even more ready to compete next year.”

Congratulations to all of the Alliance High School Cheerleaders who competed at the State Competition.