Gordon Lee, LaFayette cheerleaders heading to state

For the past several years, the Gordon Lee High School competition cheerleading squad has had to look up to state powers Commerce and Trion.

This past Saturday, the Navy-and-White got to enjoy the view from the other direction.

Competing at the Class A Public School state sectionals in Columbus, Gordon Lee bested everyone else in attendance to earn the No. 1 position for next weekend’s state finals, which will also be held in Columbus.

Gordon Lee thrilled the crowd, especially the supporters from Chickamauga who made the long drive, by turning in a nearly perfect performance to get the nod from the judges.

Hawkinsville placed second, while Commerce and Trion took the next two slots. The rest of the top eight included (in order) Lincoln County, Irwin County, Schley County and Georgia Military College Prep.

All eight will compete again next Friday.

“The girls have worked very hard this season,” said head coach Mandy Sturdivant. “They have great talent and are extremely driven. A first place finish at sectionals is exciting and a first for Gordon Lee, but we still face great competition from the (other) top seven finishers in the state. We have work to do and are hopeful for an even better performance at state finals.

Gordon Lee will be in the 7 p.m. evening session at the Columbus Civic Center on Friday. They are scheduled to be the 16th team to take the mat that night, which will be the finals for Class A Public School and Private School squads and CoEd squads in all classes.

Commerce, Trion and Hawkinsville have combined to win 15 of the last 18 state championships in Class A or Class A Public. Trion is a five-time state champion, while Commerce, a nine-time state champion, has won the last three state titles in a row.

Gordon Lee is still in search of its first state competition cheerleading championship.

LaFayette headed to state in Class 4A

The Orange-andBlack earned a trip to Columbus by finishing fourth in the Region 6-4A competition at Dawson County High School on Saturday.

“We’re excited to be going back to state,” said LaFayette head coach Nicole Harris said. “However, (fourth place) isn’t the goal we set for ourselves. Hopefully we’ll redeem ourselves on a good note in Columbus next week.”

Harris said her team needs more consistency in order to have a better showing in Friday’s sectionals. The top seven in the sectionals will compete in the finals on Saturday,

along with the region champions, who automatically qualified for the finals.

“We have good warm-ups and we nail it at practice, but we came out here (today) and let our nerves get the better of us,” she added. “We just need calmer nerves and more confidence going into next weekend.”

Heritage won the region title and earned the region’s automatic spot for Saturday. Gilmer was second, followed by Northwest Whitfield and LaFayette, while Ridgeland was fifth.

LaFayette will perform in the first session on Friday, which begins at 9 a.m. They are scheduled to go on 69th of the 72 teams in the opening session.

The sectionals and finals will all be held at the Columbus Civic Center.