Cougar Cheerleaders Head to State

Piedmont Academy’s competition cheerleaders are making final preparations for the state meet this weekend in Milledgeville.

The state finals at John Milledge Academy begin at 9:50 a.m. with Piedmont scheduled to take the floor at 11:15 a.m.

The squad traveled to Briarwood this past weekend competing with eight other schools. While Piedmont did not manage a top three finish, coach Tonya Coe said the Cheer Cougars still had a strong performance.

“We do have some things to work on before we go to state this weekend,” the coach said. “We are adding more tumbling and more to our elite stunts and pyramid. Hopefully, this will boost our score even more.”

Piedmont will face some quality opposition with many schools having compete for a longer amount of time.

“I am very pleased with the progress the girls have made and continue to make.” Coe said.

Piedmont competition cheerleaders also finished fourth recently among GISA schools competing at Brentwood in Sandersville on November 7.

“We were not very far from third place, but due to so many changes over the past week, the girls did great in my eyes,” said Coe. “I’m very proud of how far they have progressed.”

Emily Hammonds, the team’s alternate, had to step into the competition after working to learn the routine in three days at the November 7 event.

“She did very well considering the circumstances,” her coach said.

Piedmont was able to compete at the same event with several new teams from across the state with each one being “very talented,” Coe said.

“We are going to change several things this week in hopes of continuing to improve our scores,” the coach said. “Hopefully, we can bring home another trophy. We are putting in more tumbling and executing more in our stunts. Hopefully, this will put us where we need to be.”