Sometimes you don't need to finish first to be winners and Alcovy's competitive cheerleading team proved that Saturday.

Alcovy finished 15th in the state Saturday, a week after being earning the Region 2-AAAAAA championship, and reached its personal goal of 200 points and leaving the meet injury-free.

"It was great," Alcovy coach Karen Booth said. "The girls were so excited because we had such a rough start to the year."

Booth took over as head coach from being one of the Tigers' assistants three weeks into the season after the prior coach left the spot vacant. Since the coaching change, there had also been changes among the squad as well.
The remaining girls formed an even closer bond and doubled their efforts to reach the levels they accomplished Saturday.

"They didn't know their routines and we had a few girls quit and had to pull up girls from the regular squad," said Booth of the state of the Tigers when she took over as head coach. "Everyone had to learn the routines, practice five days a week and sometimes at six in the morning before school."

Since learning the initial routine, Alcovy added difficulty throughout the season ending with its largest degree of difficulty in Columbus.

"The girls were really dedicated," Booth said. "I never worked with a group of girls so dedicated. They would practice at six at night and turnaround and practice against at six in the morning."

The Tigers' competitive cheerleading squad lost some of its seniors at the beginning of the season and consisted of a majority of freshmen, along with three key seniors.

Among them is captain Carolina Sink, who helped the Tigers remain cohesive and dedicated.

"They were very close with each other and supported each other," Booth said. "I think they are proud. We set goals for ourselves and today, we knew it was going to be hard for us, but we accomplished our goals."