Daviess County’s cheerleading program continued to add onto its recent success last weekend, as they grabbed their first state championship in school history with their Game Day performance.
The Lady Panthers grabbed a 98.3 on the day to seal the win, earning a perfect score to make them the best team in the Commonwealth. They knew that they had done it too, as they erupted with enthusiasm when their performance came to an end.
“It was awesome, it was by far the best performance we had all year,” Head Coach Kitty Jones said. “I run music for our routine, so I am stuck watching it from the side most of the time. I had a feeling based on the energy level, but coaches Sally Ward and Tracy Gutsche confirmed it as they jumped to their feet at the end of the performance. The girls knew it too, as we all cried backstage afterward in celebration and as coaches told them no matter what the results are they truly nailed it.”
Jones said they set the tone Sunday before competition with a big pep talk about what was needed to win, including effort and focus for the week at practice, tightening up motions, and adding spirit to any dead areas. She said that the girls helped troubleshoot, make suggestions, and applied feedback when given and ultimately led them to the win.
“The girls went out on the mat with confidence and energy,” Jones said. “There will be some things we will tweak moving toward Nationals such as a few placement areas.”
Daviess County won state by a whole point as well, with Woodford County earning runner-up at 97.20 and Knox Central in third at 95.20. This state championship is Daviess County cheers first, having finished as runner-up the last two seasons, as well as 2014 and 2015.
Jones said that winning this title is special for the program, but especially so for the seniors that had fallen just short in recent years. She said that the senior class was instrumental in helping build the team up throughout the season to get to this moment, while also giving credit to the team as the whole for handling adversity well.
“They did this together,” Jones said. “From the seniors setting the expectations and trusting the coaches’ decisions down to the freshmen and alternates working hard to develop the skills needed for success. Junior, Keeli Johnson, was extremely sick most of the week leading into Friday and is front and center of the entire routine. A decision had to be made whether or not to keep her in or replace her with an alternate in fear of her dropping during routine. The decision was not made until the second warm up mat that she could do it and tough it out. Her possible replacement, sophomore Kaylee Alexander, watched videos all day to prepare, and did her first toe touch since knee surgery backstage ready to go in if Keeli decided she could not make it. Overall, the entire team put it all out on the mat, and knew it when they came off.”
Jones continued, saying her upperclassmen and coaching staff made the monster postseason win possible. The Panthers are still amidst another long postseason as well, proud of what they’ve built and looking forward to nationals.
“The recent success of this program was not built overnight,” Jones said. “It started with the seniors that graduated in 2021 who were part of the building process when they were freshmen. They deserve a shoutout as they began the initial movement of developing our Game Day. My other coaches, Tracy Gutsche and Sally Ward are outstanding, each bringing a different perspective needed to make things work. This could not have happened without them, or the support of our Panther Family.”
Jones also wanted to shout out the success of other local cheerleading programs, saying that she is proud of the representation of western Kentucky cheerleading programs at the state level which has been typically dominated by eastern Kentucky.
“OHS had a great performance combining their squads for the first time competing them as one at the state level placing eighth, Apollo came out close in an extremely tough division landing fifth just shy of fourth to four other Western Kentucky teams and our friends in Bowling Green came out with a state title as well in their division,” Jones said. “Western Kentucky cheer is definitely on the radar and it is exciting.”
Jones and company have been more than pleased with how they’ve competed this year, defeating division opponents with ease all season long. And as long as they can maintain their energy and continue to prepare well, the Panthers feel like they can make some noise at nationals as well.
“This year has been great as we have gone undefeated in this division at every competition,” Jones said. “The girls have worked hard to set the standards higher amongst each other, and hold each other accountable. This was a challenge at times as we really focused on having a team mindset versus individuals hitting their marks. Going into nationals as a Kentucky state champ is big. We will have to maintain focus and cleaning throughout the month of January in order to meet our goal of being a contender at the national level. With the level of focus and dedication they had this past week leading into state, anything is possible.”
But before they try to make some noise and bring some more hardware home Panther nation will get the chance to do so in support of them as well, with the high school holding a spirit walk on Wednesday, Dec. 14, recognizing the cheerleading and dance team for their accomplishments on the season.
