All the way to the top

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, February 26, 2025

By Heath Harrison

Rock Hill cheerleaders place first at state competition

This past year saw the return of competitive cheerleading to Rock Hill High School and, on Saturday, that effort paid off big.

A team of 18 of the school’s varsity cheerleaders competed in the Ohio Association of Secondary School Administrators cheerleading competition, a three-day event in Columbus, where they came in first place in Game Day Division 4 Building competition.

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The competition drew 185 teams, who competed in six divisions.

“And there were 10 teams in our division,” assistant coach Ginger Dalton said.

Rock Hill’s team was comprised of Trinity Matney, Miranda Howard, Ellie Hunt, Autumn Blankenship, Haleigh Tyson, Savannah Barnes, Kailey Swed, Haylie Aliff, Kayleigh Sisler, Lexi Craft, Kourtney Jenkins, Jada Boggs, Laycee Dalton, Bridgette Stapleton, Kassidy Lyons, Rose Beckett, Taylor Leninger and Hailey McFann.

Altogether, the team has five seniors, seven juniors and six sophomores among its members and is coached by Terri Stamper.

“These girls have worked so hard for this,” Stamper said.

She said they had been wanting to get involved in competitions for a while, but had not felt they were ready.

“It wasn’t time,” she said.

That changed she said, in May 2024, when they attended an overnight camp.

“It clicked immediately,” she said, stating the team really wanted to push themselves.

She said they took part in their first competition in November, in Columbus.

“There were so many divisions, and we weren’t sure what we wanted to do,” she said.

She said, after considering their strengths, they decided on the Game Day Division.

After taking part in the event, she said they took critique and realized they “had more to do,” and went about revamping their routines.

“We kept changing and changing things,” she said, adding she and Dalton kept offering more and more information and suggestions to the team.

“And they took it in like a sponge,” she said. “We kept adding things and, the more we threw at them, the more they ran with it.”

This year, in January, they entered another competition.

“And there were very few critiques this time.

This past weekend’s competition was their third and Stamper said, going in, their goal was to at least make the top four.

Though she said when the team saw the large trophies, reserved for the top three teams, they were going for the top three.

“And that’s a great attitude,” she said.

For their division at OASSA, where they were the only school from Lawrence County taking part, Stamper said routines consisted of a band chant, a sideline, a crowd cheer and a school song. All of this has to be done in three minutes.

After performing, Stamper said the results were announced, counting down from 10th place.

She said when the announcers got to five and Rock Hill had not yet been announced, that’s when the excitement set in.

“Then, at three, we still had not been called,” she said.

Of learning they had won it all, she said “I couldn’t be more proud.”

2025 has been a banner year for cheerleaders from the county. In addition to Rock Hill’s win, teams from Fairland and Chesapeake high schools qualified and took part in the UCA National High School Cheerleading Championship in Orlando, Florida in February.

Late on Saturday, as Rock Hill’s team arrived home from their trip, they were greeted at the campus by a quickly-organized gathering of school officials, families and the community, to congratulate them on their win.

Dalton and Stamper pointed out that Saturday’s state win was the first time a team from Rock Hill had taken the top spot in such a competition since 1989.

And this year’s team had a great mentor in reaching that position, as Stamper herself cheered on the 1989 team.

Stamper, who has coached at the high school for 13 years, over two stints, is backed by Dalton, who was her middle school cheer coach.

Dalton worked primarily at the middle school, but also coached at the high school, before retiring, then coming back as assistant coach.

“This is my 45th year coaching cheerleaders at Rock Hill,” she said.

Stamper said she and Dalton “made a great team.

“And I would also like to express our gratitude to all of our supporters and everyone who believed in our dream,” she said.

Stamper said this is also the first time in two decades that the school has taken part in competitive cheerleading.

“And this will help with our future, to continue competitions,” she said of Saturday’s win.

She said it is something teams at the school need.

“The girls are always there to cheer the boys on, to win a game,” she said. “And now this gives them something they can reach for and a chance for victory.”

The praise for the cheerleaders extended to the Lawrence County Courthouse on Tuesday morning, as the commissioners mentioned them during their meeting.

“We are extremely proud of them,” said Commissioner Deanna Holliday, adding that they were working to get them special recognition for their victory. “They certainly deserve it. I was astonished. It is not an easy task to capture a cheerleading state championship. Hats off to them.

A video of the team’s winning routine can be found at www.facebook.com/RedmenLive and has been shared on The Tribune’s Facebook page.

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