KHS cheer 3rd at regional, reaches state

Crescent will have the opportunity to defend its cheer state championship and will do so - yet again - as a regional champ.

The Tiger squad earned that distinction at last Saturday’s Class 2A regional championships held at Stroud High School.

Crescent is one of three local squads to advance to state.

Also moving on are Cashion, also in Class 2A, and Kingfisher in Class 4A.

KHS was third in the 4A-I regional at Chickasha. (Note: Each class was split into two divisions at regionals this year as opposed to separate locations to ensure all teams had the same judges.)

Kingfisher notched 242.4 points out of a possible 300. Teams that score 225 points or more advance to state.

“We had a pretty good day,” said KHS cheer coach Carma Reagan. “We had a few mistakes toward the end of the routine that we will work on this week and hopefully hit better at state.”

The squad learned the routine over the summer, working on it “off and on” in both June and July.

Since the beginning of August, the team has worked multiple hours a day.

“They have put lots of blood, sweat and tears into this routine,” Reagan said.

She added that some injuries have had to be worked around, but all members were healthy for the regional.

Washington won the 4A-I regional crown with 258.4 points while Pauls Valley was the runner-up with 250.8.

Weatherford, with 227.4 points, also advanced to state.

Moving on from the 4AII division were regional champ Crossings Christian (284.2), Bristow (265.6), Heritage Hall (261.6), Sallisaw (259.4) and Sulphur (255.0).

“We were one of the smaller teams competing with 16 on the mat,” Reagan said, noting teams can have as many as 20 during a routine.

“I’m proud of how far we have come since June, but we still have five more days to improve. We will use all of our time to do just that. We want to make our community and our school proud and have a great showing on Saturday.”

Crossings Christian is the defending state champ.

KHS was seventh last year and third the year before.

Crescent, meanwhile, continues to build on its recent cheer tradition.

On top of winning state last year, the team was also the 2020 Game Day cheer state champion.

It scored 264.2 points to win the 2A-II championship in Stroud.

Haworth was the runner- up with 258.8 points.

Cashion was next with 247.6.

Central (Sallisaw), with 234.8 points, and Wyandotte, with its 226 points, also qualified for the state competition.

Okemah was the 2A-I regional champion with 254.2 points.

Pawnee (240) was the runner-up while Keota (228.6) and Ketchum (227) also advanced to state.

State will be held at Union High School’s UMAC in Tulsa.

Class 2A performances begin at 10 a.m.

Cashion is slated to perform at 10:40 a.m. and Crescent is the final 2A squad scheduled to perform at 11:20 a.m.

Class 4A performances begin at 3:30 p.m. Kingfisher’s performance is slated for 4:20 p.m.

( Note: See 2A and 4A regional cheer scores on Page 13 of this edition.)