CHERRY TWP — Cheering through COVID.

Like every other high school sport this academic year, Moniteau's and Karns City's competitive cheer squads battled through the pandemic in 2021.

Both find themselves headed to the PIAA Competitive Spirit Championships April 10 in Hershey as a result.

Moniteau recently won the District 9 small varsity championship, posting a judges' score of 73.4. Karns City finished second in the big varsity division with a 75.8. Elk County Catholic won that division with a 76.4.

But the Gremlins advanced to the state competition as District 9's fourth qualifier — with the highest score after the three division winners. Clarion-Limestone won the coed division.

“We've qualified every year since our program began in 2013,” Karns City coach Nicole Rottman said. “This year, we had 30 girls. We usually average 16 to 18.”

The Gremlins' roster nearly doubled in size from the previous year.

“We changed our requirements this year,” Rottman said. “You no longer have to cheer in basketball and football to compete.

“That enabled a number of girls who are athletes in other sports to join the competitive cheer squad. It worked out well for everybody.”

Moniteau claimed the small division title for the third consecutive year. The Warriors had 14 girls on the roster, but had to change their routine just three days before the district meet because of an injury.

“One of our base girls injured an ankle,” Moniteau coach Jacqie Tedeski said. “With a small roster now at 13, with everyone participating, that changed everything. We had to learn an entirely new routine.”

Moniteau has no team captains. Juniors Victoria DeMatteis, Lexi Lasichak, Shayla Nagy and Kylee Surrena have been on all three of the Warrior district championship teams.

“There's a big friendship and bond between us,” Lasichak said of the team. “We just worked through it.”

The team practices five days a week.

“We practiced longer until we got it down,” DeMatteis said of the new routine. “We have a lot of confidence and a lot of us have been cheering together for years.”

Only eight teams competed at the District 9 Championships this season. There are normally 14, but some programs did not field a team this season because of the pandemic.

Moniteau had some girls forced to quarantine at different points of the season. The Warriors won in-person competitions at Bishop McCourt and Karns City, regardless.

“We lost seven seniors last year,” Tedeski said. “Our returning girls and our newcomers stayed incredibly focused.”

“We got shut down for two weeks in December,” Nagy said. “When we were cleared to return, we wanted to keep going. This means a lot to us.”

Many of the girls want to continue cheering in college. Surrena said she's hoping to cheer at Slippery Rock University.

“I've been doing this since I was little and I want to keep doing it,” she said.

Karns City and Moniteau both hope to get to the final round of the PIAA competition this year.

“We've got a wide variety of kids and some very good athletes,” Rottman said of KC. “I'm anxious to see what we can do out there.”

Moniteau has qualified for the upcoming Universal Cheerleading Association (UCA) national competition in Florida.

MONITEAU ROSTER

Seniors

Emma Barkley, Hailey Campbell, Marissa Menchyk

Juniors

Victoria DeMatteis, Lexi Lasichak, Shayla Nagy, Kylee Surrena

Sophomores

Ashlynn Baptiste, Molly Grossman, Rylee Long, Carmella Ryan

Freshmen

Samantha Smith, Kelsey Stewart, Isabella Osborne

KARNS CITY ROSTER

Seniors

Mira Codispot, Raechel Golling, Katelyn Grazioli, Lilli Martin, Kirsten Mauthe, Shavon McCanna, Whitney Moore, Jillian Morrow, Addison Ritzert, Jordan Rottman, Lilly Rottman

Juniors

Cara Craig, Madyson Fields, Cecelia Henry, Olivia Rumbaugh, Kiara Simpson, Abby Stewart, Caleigh Tack

Sophomores

Reese Booher, Megan Crawford, Brooke Crissman, Sarah McDonald, Cecelia Morrow, Allyn Neely, Abby Simmons, Meghan Sirich, Emma Slaugenhoup

Freshmen

Cayley Craig, Karissa Hawk, Kendall Ritzert