By George Slaughter
The state champion Spirit of Cinco Ranch cheer team – photo courtesy Cinco Ranch High School
Cinco Ranch High School is known for its school spirit. Earlier this month, its cheer team won the Class 6A state championship as proof.
The Spirit of Cinco Ranch cheer team has 43 members. Like their Cougar Star drill team counterparts, Spirit cheer team members cheer on the Cougars at football games. Spirit cheer team members also attend and cheer at volleyball games, along with boys’ and girls’ basketball games.
Spirit cheer team members help organize pep rallies during the football season, along with what cheer coach Loren Williamson describes as “spirit circles,” or mini-pep rallies, in the school’s rotunda.
On January 17-18, the Spirit cheer team, along with some other cheer teams from the Katy Independent School District participated in the University Interscholastic League’s Texas State Spirit Championship at the Fort Worth Convention Center. Williamson said that over 70 teams in Division 1 participated in the competition. Teams from other classifications competed earlier that week.
Each team participated in a preliminary, or qualifying, round in which it performed three different routines. One was for the band chant, another was for the school fight song, and the third was for leading the crowd in chants. Judges graded each of these three performances on their own merits.
The top 20 teams advanced to the finals. Cinco Ranch, Seven Lakes, and Mayde Creek qualified for the finals.
“You’re taking three things from the preliminaries, and in the finals, you do all three of those back-to-back in the finals routine,” Williamson said.
The order in which teams participated in the final round was determined by random drawing. A panel of judges, different from those who judged in the preliminary round, graded the finals.
“Everything is wiped clean from preliminaries,” Williamson said.
Cinco Ranch finished first with a 95.50 score. Seven Lakes finished 10th with an 88.40 score. And even though only 30 spirit team members could perform during a given routine, Williamson said that all 43 team members received medals for their hard work.
This is Williamson’s sixth year at Cinco Ranch, and her 14th year coaching overall. The title is Cinco Ranch’s first for its cheer team, though Williamson said the school has won previous state titles in track and wrestling.
“It’s important for people to understand at Cinco Ranch we are a cheer program when it comes to our competition team,” Williamson said. “We don’t distinguish between varsity, junior varsity, and freshman teams. We’re a big family, and everybody loves each other. We’re all there to support each other. We have four seniors who have been on the team since they were freshman. It’s good to have that recognition and to know that you are loved and supported by everyone in the community.”