Randall High cheerleaders set off to the UIL state cheer competition on Jan. 3 and placed 11th in 4A-Division 1. The team has worked relentlessly to make their performance the best it could be.

“We started working on our state performance in August and spent many hours after school and during breaks getting the routine performance ready,” coach Tarran West said. “The team worked extremely hard during those times, even when they didn’t want to.”

West has been the cheer coach for the past 6 years.

“I love getting to spend time with the team, getting to know them, and seeing all of their hard work come alive on the mat,” West said.

At state, the team made it to finals, which to them made all of the hard and long practices worth it.

“I was so happy with how hard we worked, and I truly felt that our team did the best that we could do,” senior McKinzi Lewis said. “I will always remember the adrenaline coming onto the mat and the excitement that was flowing out of all of us.”

Cheer competitions can be extremely competitive because every school in the state is trying to win.

“I considered everyone in the 4A division to be our competition because we are all trying our absolute hardest to be number 1,” sophomore Rylee Hoelting said.

Randall competed against over 50 schools in Texas and had a final score of 87.40.