The Georgia Northwestern Cheer Cats get the crowd fired up with the first performance of the night at the Bobcat Cheer Extravaganza Monday night at LaFayette High School.
There were plenty of smiles, plenty of cheers and plenty of hairbows on display Monday night as a packed house at LaFayette High School saw over 425 athletes of all ages and skill levels perform and compete in the third annual Bobcat Cheer Extravaganza, presented by Georgia Northwestern.
A total of 24 recreation, middle school, high school, college and all-star cheerleading squads got the crowd going as they strutted their stuff for the judges and those in attendance.
The Georgia Northwestern Cheer Cats opened the night by showing the skills that earned them a seventh-place finish at NCA Nationals this past spring. The Bobcats earned a repeat trip to nationals after their performance at NCA camp in Louisville, Kentucky over the summer.
Then it was time for the younger athletes to perform as recreation, middle school and high school squads from all over the northwest Georgia area and East Ridge, Tenn. to take the floor as they put on exhibitions or competed for championship banners.
Bobcats cheer coach Karen Stoker said the skill level among all the squads, even the youngest ones, has improved dramatically since the inception of the Extravaganza three years ago.
“We have a lot of cheerleaders that come to the Rossville Athletic Center now to use our mats and practice,” she explained. “Just us being able to let them borrow materials really helps out a whole lot. The (squads) just seem so much more poised and as this event grows, we hope it becomes even more meaningful and impactful to the middle schools and high schools.”
Boynton Recreation won first place in both routine and cheer in Division I while Rossville Recreation swept the awards in Division II. In the middle school division, Chattanooga Valley won first place in cheer while LaFayette took first in routine.
Several other middle school and high school teams performed exhibitions only as did the athletes from Hot Shots Cheerleading.
“It was a great night,” Bobcats cheer coach Karen Stoker said. “We couldn’t have done it without Hot Shots, who co-sponsored this event and provided goody bags, and we couldn’t have done it without Coach (David) Stephenson and the rest of the athletic staff here at Georgia Northwestern. The judges have come year and year to do this for me and that’s great. I’m just tickled to death that it turned out so well.”
Division I – Cheer
1. Boynton
2. Rock Spring “A”
3. Rock Spring “B”
4. Ringgold
5. East Ridge
6. LaFayette
Division I – Routine
1. Boynton
2. Rock Spring “B”
3. Rock Spring “A”
4. Ringgold
5. East Ridge
Division II – Cheer
1. Rossville
2. LaFayette “B”
3. Ringgold
4. LaFayette “A”
5. East Ridge
Division II – Routine
1. Rossville
2. LaFayette “B”
3. Ringgold
4. LaFayette “A”
5. East Ridge
Middle School – Cheer
1. Chattanooga Valley
2. LaFayette
Middle School – Routine
1. LaFayette