NEW MADISON – Tri-Village hosted the 12th annual All-American Patriot Cheer Championship on Sunday.
The cheer competition incorporated youth teams all the way through high school teams represented from Darke, Preble, Mercer and Miami counties.
The first year of the Patriot Cheer Challenge took place on a Saturday, but organizers quickly realized more teams could participate if they moved to Sunday so in the second year it moved to the last Sunday in September and has remained that way for the now highly popular event.
According to organizer Darlene Ary, the idea behind the event was to provide an opportunity for county and local cheerleaders an opportunity to showcase their talents and hard work.
“In our first year, eight teams from the Cross County Conference attended, and everything went smoothly so we decided to make it an annual event,” Ary said. “For the first few years we rented cheer mats to provide the performance area needed for a successful competition. Each year the event grew, and we began purchasing mats sometimes one or two per year. We were very excited as the responses continued to grow and a couple years ago we reached our highest number of performances, 57, featuring both team and individual divisions.
“Each year we work hard to provide something new. This year was no different. We were able to get a second 42 foot by 42 foot floor for a warmup area so all teams and individuals were able to have warmup time before they lined up for their actual performance,” Ary added.
“This year we had new vendors come on board featuring The Candy Lady with delicious candies and chocolates, Katherine McNew a Lula Roe consultant brought a large display of items, The Stitchery from Covington, who can actually print metallic ink and customize cheer shirts onsite, not to mention the commons area provided annual sale of event T-shirts, hoodies, leggings, cheer and cancer awareness bows and keychains, along with a concession stand. We also had beautiful deep red carnations available for purchase for your favorite cheerleader and a hospitality room was provided for all the coaches as well,” Ary said.
The 2017 Patriot Cheer Challenge featured 36 performances by 236 cheerleaders who were led by 32 coaches. Over 715 spectators and fans were on hand to support these fine young ladies.
The theme for this year’s event was: Just Cheer – Athlete by Nature … Cheerleader by Choice!
This year’s results were as follows:
Dance division- youth
1st UC Stateliners
2nd Ansonia Youth
3rd National Trail Youth
Dance division junior high
1st Ansonia Jr. High
High school dance division
1st Mississinawa Valley Varsity
2nd Tri-Village Varsity
3rd Ansonia Varsity
Individual youth division
1st Shelby Sagester – Tri-Village
2nd Miya Ditmer – National Trail
Individual junior high division
1st Chloe Godown – Tri-Village
2nd Hailey Sager – Arcanum
3rd Madisyn Esser – Ansonia
4th Abbie Francis – Fort Recovery
Individual high school division
1st Grace Engle – Tri-Village
2nd Hope Byrum – Greenville
Game day division
1st Tri-Village High School
Youth cheer division
1st Tri-Village
2nd Ansonia
3rd Greenville
Junior high cheer division
1st Tri-Village Jr. High
2nd Covington Jr. High
3rd National Trail Jr. High
High school cheer division
1st Tri-Village Varsity
2nd Greenville Varsity
3rd Arcanum Varsity
Spirit Award
National Trail
Grand champs – high score of the day
Tri-Village High School
“This event could not have been possible without the countless volunteers of Tri-Village,” Ary said.
“I give great credit to the cheerleaders, coaches, parent and fans who supported their athletes and attended the event … It was a great day of cheer and dance,” Ary concluded.
