A member of Arcadia Schools’ tumbling mini team at Monday’s cheerleading competition at the Wood County Fair.
Cheerleaders from teams throughout Northwest Ohio gathered on Monday evening at the Wood County Fair to put their skills to the test.
Teams had the option to compete in eight different divisions, including tumbling tiny school, non-tumbling spirit, tumbling junior high, non-tumbling small varsity and more.
The competition began with the young kids and the Special Olympic teams. Liberty Center took home first place in both the tumbling tiny and tumbling minidivisions with Findlay taking second in the tumbling tiny division and Arcadia getting second in the tumbling mini division.
In the tumbling youth division, Findlay earned first and Liberty Center earned second. Two special Olympics teams competed in the non-tumbling spirit division with the Henry County Cougars picking up first and the Lucas County Lightning coming in second.
Many cheer competitions have started adding divisions for Special Olympic teams. Kelley Watson, the coordinator for the Lucas County Special Olympics, said the inclusion of Special Olympics divisions is super important for both the athletes and the public.
“To say that there’s no limits to Special Olympics athletes, that they can do all the same things that any other athlete can do,” Watson said. “It’s a great way for our guys to be integrated more into the community as well.”
While the Lucas County team came in second at the competition, Watson said the team still had a great time and was super excited to come home with a trophy.
“They don’t care what place they get,” Watson said. “I mean honestly, they all ran up and said we got second place, and it’s just being a part of this is what’s important to them.”
During the second half of the competition, the junior high and high school students competed in tumbling and non-tumbling divisions. Liberty Center finished first in the tumbling junior high and tumbling large varsity divisions with Riverdale taking second in the tumbling junior high and Tiffin Columbian taking second in the tumbling large varsity.
In the non-tumbling small varsity division, Elmwood took home first and Lakota finished second. Lastly, in the tumbling small varsity division, Delphos St. John’s took home first and Riverdale finished second.
For some schools, this competition kicks of their season and gives them the opportunity to see what they need to improve.
A member of Arcadia Schools’ tumbling mini team at Monday’s cheerleading competition at the Wood County Fair.
Lexi Sexton, the junior high coach for Liberty Center, said her team has been coming to this competition for multiple years and it is a competition they look forward to each year.
“Just kind of seeing them execute what we’ve been practicing because you never really quite see it 100% until they’re on the mat,” Sexton said. “So, this is the first time to kind of see that in person so that’s exciting to see.”
For the athletes this competition is about more than just winning a trophy. Leah Orr, a senior at Liberty Center, said she loves getting to see her teammates grow through each competition and seeing all the support from the crowd.
“I would say my favorite part is when the crowd cheers in between our dances and our cheers because it just shows their support and their love for our sport,” Orr said. “And I just really appreciate that they’re willing to come out to a fair on a hot day and cheer us on.”
Orr’s team won first place in their division and Orr said it was incredibly satisfying to see their hard work pay off. Cheerleading is a team sport and Orr said she is grateful for how much work her coaches and team have put in.
“I would say that I’m definitely really appreciative of our coaches,” Orr said. “They’ve put in a ton of time and work to invest in us and all the other girls on the team just do an amazing job and are willing to come in for practice and so to have it pay off, it’s just amazing.”
