'We did it:' Lakeland, Bartow, Lake Wales win cheer state titles, advance to nationals

There is a certain pristine aura when it comes to Lakeland’s cheer program, much like the big-time sports programs that are expected to win. And Lakeland, with all its expectations thanks to its then-five state titles, stayed at the mountaintop and claimed another state cheer title Friday night at the RP Funding Center.

The Dreadnaughts won their sixth state title in a row in the Class 2A extra-large non tumbling division thanks to a score of 86.90 in the 2024 FHSAA Competition Cheer Championships. This is also the third time in school history the program has claimed a state title when the football team earns a state title as well.

“It’s great. (The) pressure’s a privilege, but now you can take a deep breath because we did it,” ninth-year head coach Crystal Abdon said. “It’s the standard and the expectation, and the kids put in a lot of work. I don’t think people realize how much work they do put in.”

A typical season starts in April before cheering through football season. Then competitive cheer begins in October. Cheer teams work all the way through February, and the best teams advance to nationals, which this year, is slated for Feb. 9-10 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. Lakeland is one of those teams along with Bartow, Winter Haven, George Jenkins, Auburndale and Lake Wales thanks to the announcements made at UCA Regionals at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex back in December.

Lakeland’s team comprises half in which competitors have had experience, while the other half hasn't cheered before. Take Peyton Altman for example. Altman never cheered a day in her life, but she took the spot of sophomore Madi Linch, who suffered a knee injury that took her out from November to mid-January.

Many of these individuals suffered through injuries, though, whether it’s a compromised knee, or ankle. Still, they persevered thanks to performing stunts and pyramids.

Bartow is no stranger to that either, They're so good in stunts and pyramids that it propelled the program to an 11th state title in the 21 years that head coach Lori Jolliff has been at the helm.

“Extremely proud of the kids, and it was great having homefield advantage and the entire Bartow community came out and just rallied the kids," Jolliff said. "Our community is unmatched. We had so many alumni there, all the way from the state championship when (the FHSAA) recognized cheerleading as a competitive sport in 2008 and they won the title back then. We have kids from the 08 team all the way from last year’s team.”

These people came to support a team that won four state titles in a row. They stayed on top because of the execution of stunts, lines being clean and being more uniform overall. The team looked very cohesive, which explains the first-place score of 93.5 — the highest score out of all the teams.

For Bartow specifically, the team scored that high despite being a mix of experienced and newbie competitors.

Still, Jolliff expects her team to push through for nationals, which should be a mirror image of how practice was the week leading up to state.

“I really am looking forward for the kids coming right back to practice on Monday and that same frame of mine of every rep matters,” Jolliff said. “I want to say thank you to the Bartow community for rallying around the kids last night. We just felt the love when we walked in there.”

Lake Wales surely felt the love from all the fans who attended state cheer after winning the program's first state cheer title.

The Highlanders placed first with a score of 86.9 in Class 1A action, and it was pure euphoria from the fans who supported.

"(I) am extremely proud of our athletes hard work and dedication to each other," Lake Wales head coach Brandi Kehres said. "There are no words to describe how much this accomplishment means. We have so much to be grateful and thankful for. Thank you for every athlete, coach, parent, administrator, alumni and our Highlander community who has supported and made sacrifices for our program. All the Glory to God."

The team was extremely motivated heading into state after making a few mistakes at regionals, which was solved by a more focused week of practice. In the end, they performed nearly perfect at state, and they will be heading to nationals as well.

"Our team is not done yet. This week we perform at the UCA National Championship Competition at Disney," Kehres said.

Winter Haven had a good year as well. The program placed fifth.

“We’ve been building a program at Winter Haven. I am really proud of the team and their success this year, making it to the state finals this year also getting their bid to nationals,” Winter Haven head coach Ali Roberts said.

Winter Haven did well at stunts and tumbling. But there was a little bit of a panic mode, and Roberts said her team needs to show more confidence heading forward to nationals.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Lakeland, Bartow, Lake Wales top dogs in state cheer once more