The winter season has come to an end, which means that it’s time for the cheerleaders to return their uniforms as the weather changes from the low 30s to the low 60s. This season’s team was one of the youngest teams Coach Kristin Keefer had ever coached, with just two freshmen, five sophomores, and one junior.

According to Coach K, the reason behind the team being so small wasbecause, “We lose a lot of student-athletes in the Winter season because a lot of our athletes also do competitive cheer or work, and we also had a handful of athletes that do other sports in the winter. Winter brings a lot of student-athletes that are newer to the sport or haven’t done it in a while. It is a less competitive tryout process than fall.” Which gave new opportunities to those who hadn’t tried cheer, or people who wanted to get back into it without feeling alienated.

Even with such a small team, they made history as the first UHS winter season cheer team to win Regionals. The whole team was in pure shock when their name was called for first place, even if they hit ZERO when they were performing. “Warm-ups didn’t go super well so we didn’t know what was gonna happen, and we ended up hitting [zero]. And it was just fun to win” Sophomore Lacy Clayton describes, the team persisted through any challenges they experienced before their nerve-racking performance.

To succeed in cheer, “You need to put in the work in and out of practice,” Coach K explains. Being a cheerleader comes with a lot of responsibilities, including time management.

The team practiced every Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. “You weren’t allowed to miss practice unless you had a reason, but there weren’t any consequences, it was just fast-paced so you’d miss out on things if you didn’t go,” says Michael Asante, a sophomore who returned from the fall season because of his love for the sport. 

Michael is the only boy on the cheer team, and he is 100% talented. His experiences on Urbana Cheer have led him to form new bonds and defeat all stereotypes. “I used to get a lot of looks, or even be made fun of but I don’t really care. It’s really fun and I like cheering so..” Cheering makes him feel happy, and he looks up to his idol, Slane Glover who cheers for Ohio State. Many members of the team plan on pursuing cheer after high school, and they will continue to work towards their goals including Michael.

But for now, their UHS cheer stuff will stay packed away till fall if they wish to return. Some memories won’t be packed away though. McKenna Corbett who’s one of the only two freshmen on the team, says one of the most memorable moments of the season was, “[making] the bus driver stop at McDonald’s and feasting.” The orders for the team consisted of, “ice cream in cups, soda, and chicken nuggets” and it was well deserved for the Regional Champions.