DENVER – On the opening day of the Colorado high school spirit state championships, the gameday competition featured a familiar champion finising off a four-peat and a first-timer.
In 4A/5A, the Valor Christian Eagles won their fourth straight gameday title. In 2A/3A, The Academy won its first-ever gameday title.
For the Valor Christian seniors, Thursday's events at the Denver Coliseum wrapped up shared careers in which they accomplished the rare feat of going four for four.
"It just means everything," Eagles season Kate Throckmortan said. "We're such a special group of girls and it feels like such a sisterhood. So, it's amazing to do it with all my sisters on the mat. I think we just really wanted it this year and especially for us seniors, we felt really pressured to continue the legacy. We were in second coming out of prelims and it was really nerve-wracking, but we we're really happy because we knew we had so much to improe upon and we peaked at the right time."
Valor Christian continued its dominance of the gameday discipline, the Eagles trailed Cherry Creek by 0.30 points following preliminaries. But the Eagles rallied in the finals to put up a stellar 98.8 score and edge the Arapahoe Warriors, who scored a 98.6. The Eagles have now won every single title since gameday was established in 2019 and Valor Christian now has six titles in its spirit program's history.
"This one was for our seniors, they've gotten now four in a row," Eagles head coach Kallyn Connor said. "We're just super honored to compete and set the standard for gameday in our state super high. These girls work so hard and every day, they come and want to be better. But the best thing about them is they're really awesome people."
For Arapahoe, it is the first top-two finish in their gameday history, and the first time finishing first or second in a spirit competition since winning the 5A pom title in 2012. Rounding out the finalists were Cherry Creek in third, Rangeview in fourth, Smoky Hill in fifth, Broomfield in sixth, Pueblo County in seventh, and Regis Jesuit in eighth.
The 2A/3A classification had a brand-new champion in the discipline, as The Academy took home the title. For the Wildcats, it is not only the program's first gameday title but also is the second spirit championship in program history, the other a 3A cheer title back in 2017.
"Oh my goodness, it's so exciting," Wildcat head coach Trevor Gomez said. "We were trailing coming into the finals but they hit it and they rocked their routine. They hit it hard and made no mistakes, so they deserve it. Our goal is always the finals. Last year we took fifth place, so this year our goals was to get better than fifth."
The Wildcats were also in second place following the prelims, in which they scored an 87.7, while Gilpin County was in first with a massive 92.25. The Academy flipped the script in the finals, however, as they scored a 90.75, edging out the Eagles by just 0.20 points.
It is the first time Gilpin County has ever finished in the top-two in any spirit discipline. More impressively, the Eagles nearly took home first place with just five athletes competing.
"These five girls have been dedicated ever since we started our competition season practice back in September," Eagles head coach Katie Yocom said. "We're a small school up in the mountains and we have a no tryout policy, so everybody who wants to cheer can. So we set a deadline of having to sign up be a certain day, and these girls said, 'Yes, I'm going to do it.' We've competed for the last five years and this is a dream come true for us because they highest we've ever gotten before is seventh. So, I'm so thrilled with these girls because they've worked so hard and the we just wonderful."
Rounding out the other finalists in 2A/3A, Florence finished third, Swink fourth, Lyons fifth, and La Junta sixth.
