It is not often high school students wanting and gladly accepting more work. In the case of Jacksboro High School’s cheerleading squad, it helped them pick up a state title Thursday, Jan. 16.

It was the third straight year the girls placed in the top five at the UIL Spirit State Championship in Fort Worth. The previous two years the girls had finished 4th out of more than 75 teams.

Jacksboro showed it wanted something better this year before the school year even started, earning first place finishes in all events during Cheer Camp last summer.

“These girls were bound and determined not to come in fourth again,” Coach Jaci Pippen noted.

The top three teams in the previous State competitions had a separate period for cheer during the school day,  Pippen said. Pippen and the team asked for a cheer period during the school day for the 2019-20 school year and it was granted by Superintendent Dwain Milam.

The extra 45-minute period was found to be game changing.

“Having the class period provided a different, more positive atmosphere,” Pippen said. “The girls were able to push each other in a positive way. We were also able to include conditioning as part of the class period, which really helped in a lot of ways, including our jumping.”

It helped tremendously when things were not smooth sailing at the state competition. The girls finished 3rd in Cheer and 4th in band chant in their two preliminary rounds.

“We were also the fifth team on the mat, which I’m not sure was a good thing,” Pippen said. “We weren’t able to see a lot of other teams, which made it hard to see where we were going to place. We knew we had given 100%.”

Having strong senior leadership from the two seniors, Daylan Moore and Harlie Holder, may have made the difference as the girls were fired up when they found out they had qualified for finals. In the finals, the preliminary scores are erased.

Holder said pushing the girls was necessary heading into the finals. because many of the younger girls were “freaking out.” Sophomore cheerleader Brynn Pardue said knowing they were starting from scratch in  the finals took some of the pressure off.

“We were a little shaky when we got out of preliminaries,” Pardue offered. “Once we knew we were going to finals, we were able to turn our mindset.”

Once the girls found out they had won the event, pandemonium ensued knowing all the hard work they had put in had come to fruition.

The win also gave the girls this week off from workouts. Still, there is plenty of work to be done to avoid complacency.

Team members are Moore, Holder, Abby Mangum, Hadlee Richardson, Harlee Richardson, Litzy Flores, Lilli Gonzales, Isabella Grisham, Jenna Herd, Brynn Pardue, Tradyn Reynolds, Autumn Romines, Olivia Staley, McKennah Eyman, Priscilla Langley, Lili Luna, Ashlyn Nunley, Kirra Smith, Tuffy – Paxton Kenvin and Ethan Langley.

For the full story, see the Wednesday, Jan. 22, edition of the Jacksboro Herald-Gazette.