The Kilgore Cheerleaders competed in UIL State competition on January 5th They performed once to see if they would qualify for finals. They qualified for finals and then competed again as their last time preforming. Many hours of hard work was put into this performance. They left the day before the competition so that they could get settled in their hotel rooms and then get ready and watch some other teams that were competing that day before going back to the hotel to get all dressed up to go have a team dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. “One of my favorite memories from competition was when we went out to eat for a team dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. The food was delicious and I got to bond with some of my other teammates,” Freshman Lauryn Hok said.

The Kilgore Cheerleaders ended up placing  17th overall out of 60 teams. They made it to finals which is the top 20 teams. When making it to finals they competed again and that is how they earned 17th place. “We were honored to receive 1st in 4A D1 Fight Song, in this competitive and hard competition it is truly an honor,” Senior Captain Kenzington Eubanks said.

There can be a lot of nerves going through an athletes head before competing and it can be very stressful.”Before we got on the mat, I was literally shaking because I was so scared. This was my very first UIL competition as I am a freshman, and my anxiety level was over the roof. But when we stepped out on the mat, all of my feelings washed away and excitement grew inside of me. I relaxed and told myself to have fun and be confident,” Hok said.