GNHS Varsity Cheerleaders Head To State

Grayslake North Varsity Cheerleaders made it to State last weekend during the Regional competition. They came in a very close second to Antioch, earning their trip to Bloomington this weekend as one of the top three teams from Regionals. 

"It is very exciting that we are going to state!" said Coach Jennifer Garza. "The girls can't wait."

She said the North earned their highest scores of the season last weekend.

"The raw scores were very close between us and Antioch, who got first place," Garza said. "We unfortunately had 1.5 points in deductions, which is what put us a little farther away from them for our total score, though. Antioch is a very good team that has a really clean and difficult routine so to be that close to them in scores was very exciting. It was also our highest score of the season which was great. The team really put their all on the floor that day!" 

She praised the entire team for their energy and focus leading up to Sectionals.

"We knew we had a difficult enough routine to score high but we knew we had to hit it and sell it," said Garza. "We practiced hard, kept our eyes focused on the goal, and really tried to clean up all the little things that make up our routine."

The State Competition is this weekend Feb. 3-4 at the U.S. Coliseum in Bloomington. All 25 teams in the Medium Varsity Division compete on Friday and then the top 10 go through to Saturday for the Finals. 

"The girls know it takes hard work to be one of the best in the state and they are not letting up," Garza said of this week's practices. "They are still pushing themselves to improve on our score from Sectionals. We still have some things in our routine to clean up and that is what we are focusing on."

Grayslake North Varsity Cheerleaders:

• Lauren Baker
• Courtney Bong
• Sara Bongratz
• Nicole Carrao
• Morgan Castle
• Amanda Cotter
• Gen Enowbitang
• Katie Fletcher
• Shelby Geary
• Mariah Gentile
• Teagan Johnson
• Jennie Kramer
• Megan Landry
• Gabby Mason
• Samantha Mayer
• Katie Owen
• Courtney Peterson
• Francell Rankins
• Melanie Rosario
• Sarah Schmitke
• Alexis Shimcoski
• Emily West
• Allie Wilson

Special thanks to Todd Landry, father of cheerleader Megan Landry, for submitting photos from Regionals. See more on his blog.