On Saturday December 6, 2014, the Antioch Viking varsity cheerleaders left their routine all on the floor as they competed for the state title. As all state qualifiers gathered at Sears Centre, only one took home the title. Which this year, the Antioch Vikings brought home the gold.

Twenty-two girls hoped and dreamed of taking home the trophy. Seven out of the 22 girls knew that this would be their last performance as a Viking. Although many of the girls dream to be a Sequoit cheerleader one day.

Gina Frasch is head coach of the Viking varsity cheer team. This is her second year as coach and she shares the position with Marnie Pedersen. Before being head coach she was an assistant for two years.

“Viking coaches attend training sessions held by the Illinois Recreational Cheerleading Association (IRCA). Competitions are not like competitions in the past. The skill level is very advanced and the athleticism amazes me,” Frasch said.

Her daughter, Avery Frasch, is also a cheerleader on the team. Avery has been cheering since she was in fifth grade and hopes to continue to cheer throughout high school. Avery is currently an eighth grader at Emmons. Avery is very excited about high school cheer.

“I am looking forward to working with Coach Matt, and learning from him as he helped us during a few of our Viking practices. I loved every second of it,” Avery said.

The girls started their competition routine at the end of July. Practicing three times a week for a solid two hours. Girls have to condition in order to perform a three minute routine. They work on their jumps, flexibility, tumbling, motions, stunting, technique, dancing, sidelines, cheers, and half time routines. There are a lot of things the girls cover in such a short amount of time.

Vikings is not a tryout team as anyone wanting to cheer is able to join the organization. Although children do not have to tryout, the only way to winning the state title is by being a dedicated cheerleader wanting to be better. If a child does not know how to tumble, they will gain more than enough experience if they join Vikings.

“We had 22 girls who were all pretty decent jumpers and out of those 22, we had nine girls who could do a back tuck, 16 of whom could do back handsprings, and one girl who could do a full. There are ten areas on the score sheet and judges critique and expect safe, lively, and difficult skill leveled routines. Tumbling is only worth one tenth of the score, but it definitely helped us win,” Frasch said.

Three teen coaches helped the Vikings win the title: senior Jessie Maloney, junior Mikayla Christian and LCHS junior Destinee Erdnen. Maloney has been a teen coach for Vikings varsity over the past four years, and is very impressed on how the girls performed.

“Cheer has become extremely advanced. To the point of what sixth graders do now is what high school cheerleaders did five years ago. It is advancing so fast because of how competitive the sport is,” Maloney said. “Judges are increasing the level of difficulty each year. This increase has driven these girls to do things girls their age have never done before.”

All in all, the team as a whole could not be happier.

“It feels unbelievable to be state champions. The entire season the girls were told to believe n themselves, and that becoming state champions is within their reach, but when it actually happened, I could not believe it. Happy is an understatement. To instill the belief that hard work pays off into a seventh and eighth grader is not east, but it has been done. Antioch Vikings varsity believed, worked hard, and won,” Frasch said.

Congrats to the Antioch Vikings varsity team on such a successful season. Our future Sequoits shine bright once again.