The GJHS Cheer Team made history by making it to finals.

“Our performance at finals was one of those moments where everything fell into place,” said head cheer coach and Fruita 8/9 Teacher Teaa Warinner. 

“I think we did very good [at finals],” said GJHS senior cheerleader Morgan Johnsen.

The cheer team placed third overall at finals on December 9th at the Denver Coliseum in class 4A. Warinner said that the state only takes seven teams to finals, and the score that the teams had from preliminaries is reset. So the score they get with their final routine is all that counts at that point. 

“I told the team backstage before our final performance that they had two choices: They could keep their placement, or give it away. If they gave their placement away, I told them to get a higher placement rather than drop to a lower placement. From then on, the team was ready to take on their routine in finals,” said Warriner. 

The cheer team increased their original score by four points to secure third place. In addition, they were only three points away from the second place (Holy Family) team and eight points away from taking the state title (Erie).

“Coaching cheer impacts my life greatly. People don’t realize that our season is nine months long (from May to February), which means we don’t have much down time. When one season ends, we are already planning for the next. I am constantly going, but cheer is very rewarding, to work with talented and hard-working athletes who love and appreciate their sport. I have enjoyed coaching cheer these last five years at GJHS through the victories and disappointments,” said Warriner. 

“[Cheer has allowed me to form] a lot of good relationships with people and has taught me a lot of good skills,” said Johnson.