Whitehall’s cheerleading squad competed in the District XI Class 3A Competitive Spirit Championships on Jan. 4 at Easton Area Middle School where they took third place in the small division, earning them a berth in the PIAA state competition later this month.

“Leading up to districts, the girls said to me, ‘Let’s add a little bit more difficulty,’ so we added it, and we hit it today, so we’re super proud of them,” said Whitehall head cheerleading coach Alexis Freedman. “We looked at the score sheets. The biggest thing was, and what we were working for, was that we were able to show the love of our sport in our routine, and [a judge] said, in one of the comments, that we worked as one, and they saw it on the mat.”

Whitehall junior Laney Headman broke down the Zephyrs’ routine.

“We open up our routine with singles, and then we go into our tumbling and jump sequences, first stunt, first pyramid followed by our cheer (We are Zephyrs), and then a dance, and then our ending pyramid,” Headman said. “We all knew that we did our best, so we were just hoping that it would work out in our favor, and it did today.”

Easton placed first, Northampton was second, Parkland was fourth, and all will compete at states with Whitehall.

Whitehall’s bronze medalists include senior captains Noah Feliz, Dayra Herrera, and Trisha Theagene, as well as Laney Headman, Gabriella Jaikes, Alexis Jaikes, Desiree London, Noelia Molina, Britney Okoth, Maya Williams, Janelly Caban, Roseline Zulu, Nicole Buitrago, Vinessa Eggleston, Jaylene Rodriguez, Alanna Staas, and Hope Warren.

Coach Freedman is assisted by Alyssa Boyer, Shafara Bridges, Cora Peters, and Mandy Peters.