The varsity cheerleaders placed seventh at State this past weekend with an unexpected end to the season.

After advancing to day two, these Bears ended up competing two times in one day due to an injury in the middle of their routine.

“We were on our way to hitting a perfect routine when Elyza Hass, sophomore, collapsed on the floor. The [music] stopped, I ran up to her, and we spent about thirty minutes in the trainer. They said that she couldn’t compete,” Rachael Fischer, head cheerleading coach, said. “So I went back to the team expecting them to be 100 percent down and not in it, but when I came in, they already had a plan. I just had to put it all together based on the team, who did all of the hard work.”

With the team’s willingness to try new positions and make up for Hass’s absence, Fischer placed Kelsey Rothas, freshman alternate on the team, to fill in and said that “everything just came together.”     

“Our coach came into our locker room and told us all of the bad news after we all said our prayers for Elyza. Coach told us that an alternate had to go in, and from there my stomach [had] butterflies all over because she said I was [the one],” Rothas said. “I broke down in tears of joy and nervousness.”

The team was given 30 minutes to regroup and then they were put back into the warm-up schedule to compete again.

“I did previously know the routine from being in it before in the first two competitions,” Rothas said. “I was nervous just because it was a whole new part I had to learn in 30 minutes, I had to perform at State, and I didn’t want to let my team down.”

The second performance ended deduction-free and, according to Fischer, Rothas had successfully done her job throughout her first performance ever at State.

“It was very nerve racking competing,” Rothas said. “Once I hit the floor my confidence kind of rose and with my teammates being around me helped. The team helped me by telling me it’s not scary and that I could do it. I was really supported.”

The team went out with a lot less nerves as they performed for the second time because they had already hit the first half of the routine.

“I was a lot less nervous than in the first [routine,] but I cried during the whole thing because I was just so proud. I think Kelsey really stepped up to the plate,” Fischer said. “I’m proud of her, but I’m proud of all of [them] because that could’ve been something that really went the other way. [They] stepped up and made the best of a bad situation.”

Though State did not work out in the way planned, the team is happy with the outcome, according to Rothas, and Fischer believes this was a learning lesson.

“I think the lesson that we learned as a team was that State titles and State trophies are great, but at the end of the day your character is what matters,” Fischer said. For the team she added: “You guys proved that you have amazing character.”