For years, Hempfield Area Cheer has been fighting to grow their program, but now, they are fighting to stay on top. The Spartans led the Class 3A division at the WPIAL Championship as they were crowned the Class 3A Large Varsity Champions. Teams within WPIAL 7 are gunning to take away the crown from the Hempfield Spartans as they have won the WPIAL for four consecutive years since the 2020-21 season. Senior and captain Alexa Gray says, “It’s so exciting because I got to be a part of the very first team to win WPIALS and had the opportunity to compete on a team that continues to achieve that year after year.”

Along with Hempfield Area, the Class 3A large varsity division consisted of 5 other teams including Mt. Lebanon, North Allegheny, Norwin, Penn-Trafford and Baldwin, who won the title of overall runner-up. The Spartans have also qualified for the PIAA Competitive Spirit Championships which is held at the GIANT Center in Hershey on January 26-27.

At the WPIAL competition, Hempfield Area had a raw score of 89, but their final score dropped to an 86.5 after having 2.5 points in deductions. Baldwin, the overall runner up of the competition, had a raw score and a final score of 86.2 with zero deductions, known as ‘Hitting Zero’.

In cheerleading, the score sheets are broken down into 3 sections with two being the music portion and one the cheer portion. Each team starts with a score of 100, and as the routine progresses, the score will change. Both the cheer portion and one of the music portions are worth a total of 30 possible points, leaving 40 points remaining for the last music portion. There are many different categories that determine the amount of points a team can get including difficulty and execution.

The feeling of Hempfields name being called as the champions is a moment that the athletes will never forget. Gianna Demarco, senior and captain, said she felt “excitement because we just reached one of our goals for the season.”

After over 130 long days of practices leading up to the WPIAL competition, it all has paid off for the Hempfield Area Spartans. Captain and senior Savannah Watson says,  “I also think the relief came from working so hard since summer to be at a level that we can compete with the teams in our area. We knew since the start we wanted to repeat again; we just had to put in the time to get there.”