[Gtown Grad]

I have several comments about the competition:
First of all, congratulations to all the squads who competed, and all the winners. I thought the 15th Region was represented quite well.

Belfry High School is a very impressive campus. The gym was an excellent place to hold the competition...nice atmosphere.

Now, on to the events:
In traditional, I honestly thought that it would come down to a fight between Prestonsburg and Johnson Central. I thought that Prestonsburg's cheer was hands down the best of that division. I also thought that Johnson Central's pom routine was the best of the ENTIRE night. I absolutely loved it...it was totally in sync, the music was infectious, the motions were sharp and precise. To be honest, Pike Central did not impress me in either cheer or pom. I have watched them throughout the years, and I thought this was actually their weakest performance of the last three years. I believe that 2 1/2 minute is really their forte. So, I was rather surprised that they were named runner-up. (I am not affiliated with any of these schools, by the way).

Small and medium varsity were no surprise. Both Pikeville squads are consistently the best of the region. They really have a top-notch program there. I also thought South Floyd was much improved from last year!

I was interested in large varsity since the defending champion was going against the hometown favorite. Belfry had a HUGE crowd. That and the familiarity of the venue had to be a huge comfort factor going in. I thought they had a solid routine...a couple of errors on the tumbling passes were the only mistakes that I noticed. However, somehow their routine left me wanting more.

I thought Magoffin County had a good routine. They had some cute stunts. Since we all saw the falls, I wonder what would have happened if they had stuck everything. I remember that they lost a lot of seniors from last year, so I am sure their overall inexperience must have played a role in their errors.

Overall, I thought the results were justified. My main complaint was the lack of adherence to the time schedule. Once the competition got started, the flow was fine. However, WHAT took so long to get started????? If a squad has a warm-up time of 5:00, it should warm-up at 5:00...not 5:15, 5:30, or even 5:02. The waiting for this part to begin was excruciating!!

Good luck to all winners at state. Everyone else, go get 'em next year!