Members of Butler High School's coed cheerleading team show off their first place trophy and banner from the recent Miami Valley Regional competition.

CENTER TWP — Since Dante Grenci, Colin Crouch, Logan Donnel and Nathan Baker joined the Butler competitive cheerleading squad last summer, the program has changed.

Its results remain the same.

One of few coed high school competitive squads in Western Pennsylvania, Butler has again punched its ticket to the National High School Cheerleading Championships in February. The team recently won the coed division of the Miami Valley Regional near Dayton, Ohio, to qualify.

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“There were only two coed teams in our division. That's how rare this is,” Golden Tornado coach Marianne Miller said. “I'm sure we'll see plenty more in Orlando and that competition will be tough.“We're working hard to get ready for it.”Ringgold (Washington County) and McDowell (Erie) are the only other two coed competitive cheering squads in the region. Miller said there are some on the Eastern side of the state as well.“We're friends with McDowell. They run a family-oriented program like we do,” Miller said. “Our kids go back and forth with them on social media quite a bit.“Competitive cheerleading is a different type of sport in that other teams really support each other. We've learned a lot from them.”And the Butler male cheerleaders have learned a lot from the girls on the team — and vice versa.“We were excited and nervous about them joining the team,” senior Olivia Young said of the guys. “We were excited about the new dimension they would bring.“We were nervous in that we treat cheerleading like it's our lives. We weren't sure if the guys were going to.”They have — and then some.“The sacrifice has been setting aside time for it,” Donnel said. “When we first decided to join, other guys told us 'don't do it, you won't like it.' But as we got into it, we liked it more and more.“You do put in the work. We practiced two hours on a Saturday, but that helped us at regionals. The hard work pays off in the end.”Grenci said the toughest part for him was tumbling. He had no tumbling experience when he joined the team, but has taken part in a tumbling class since.“I landed wrong once, so I have a bit of a mental block right now,” he admitted.Baker said the cheerleading experience “has been a lot more than I expected.“The personality of an all-girl team is different from an all-guy team. You learn to keep your mouth shut and stay out of drama.“At the same time, everybody here is a wholesome person. There's such a level of trust here. I mean, you're holding somebody up (during a routine or stunt) and it's on you if they fall.”Senior Nina Hindman triggered the coed team possibility last spring as a pole vaulter on the track team. Grenci and Baker were pole vaulters as well.“They told me they were intrigued by cheerleading. Then they came in and fell in love with the sport,” she said.“The boys bring a whole new dynamic. We can do stunts in the routine we could never do with all girls. Our possibilities and potential are expanded now.”The passion of the performers has grown as well.“The guys are so passionate about this, they've brought out the passion from within us,” Hindman said.“They've definitely pushed us effort-wise,” Young agreed. “We're all giving 150 percent right now.”The girls have shown a side of team sports to the guys that Crouch admitted he's never seen before.During a team bonding session, the 22-member squad sat in a circle and took turns holding a string while talking about personal feelings.“I had never done anything like that on any team I've been on,” Crouch said. “But I've never felt this kind of closeness with any team I've ever been on, either.”Baker said some fellow classmates gave the boys a hard time at first for joining the cheerleading team.“There was some rebuttal from our peers,” he said, smiling. “The school newspaper did an article on us and Logan and I were on the cover. Some kids burnt a bunch of those papers in a bonfire.“Kids came over to our side eventually. Everyone seems to be on board with it now.”And like any other team in any other sport, the Butler coed cheer team wants to maximize its potential.“We want to master the highest level of tumbling skills that are legal in high school competition,” Grenci said. “We're working to be the best.”