CHERRY TWP — All Moniteau’s cheerleaders wanted to do at the PIAA Competitive Spirit Championships was hit their routine.

They wound up hitting a new high for the program.

Only in its fifth year, Moniteau’s competitive cheer team placed third out of 30 teams in the Class 2A small varsity division last weekend at the state competition in Hershey. The team’s previous best finish in the PIAA was ninth.

“What those girls did was remarkable,” Moniteau athletic director Luke Kunkel said. “Our entire school is so proud. This is the first group of girls we’ve had come through the program from junior high.

“They work so hard. They are totally dedicated to this sport and seeing that hard work pay off like this is a great thing.”

Seniors on the squad are Victoria DeMatteis, Kylee Surrena, Lexi Lasichak and Shayla Nagy. Coaches are Kelly Kohlmeyer, Melissa DeMatteis and Hannah Welter.

Besides Bella Hernandez (volleyball) and Rylee Long (track), none of the girls on the squad compete in another varsity sport.

“This is what they do,” Kohlmeyer said of cheeerleading. “We’ve had an up and down year with COVID, quarantines, all that. I know everybody’s been dealing with that, but these girls overcame it all.”

Underclassmen on the team include Tori Burdick, Hernandez, Molly Grossman, Alyssa McFadden, Kelsey Stewart, Sammie Smith, Long and Ashlynn Baptiste.

The Warriors placed second in the 15-team Panel A during the preliminary round. Their score of 82.866 trailed only Richland’s 89.233 and earned them a bye into the finals.

“This was the first time our team earned a bye to the finals,” Coach DeMatteis said. “That made them feel more comfortable performing in the finals. We were guaranteed a top-10 finish at that point, no matter what happened.

“This is a stressful sport. You put in all that work for months, preparing a two-minute performance and you’ve got one shot. We have a lot of girls on this team who were (at states) before and that helps.”

Before the final round, DeMatteis added: “We just told them to go on the mat and let it loose.”

Moniteau turned in a flawless performance in the finals. Its score of 85.3 trailed only champion Lansdale Catholic (93.6) and Richland (88.5). The Warriors beat out defending state and national champion Bishop McCort in the prelims and finals.

“Bishop McCort is so good. There’s so much tradition there and they can be intimidating to a young program like ours,” Kohlmeyer said. “But our girls weren’t intimidated this year. Not at all.

“They went out there and just nailed it ... flawless, absolutely perfect.”

And that wasn’t the first time.

Coach DeMatteis estimated the team hit a perfect routine in “roughly half” of its competitions this season. Moniteau leaves Tuesday for the UCA Nationals at Disney World in Orlando, Fla.

“We practice all the time and we’re together all the time,” Nagy said. “We’d get mad at each other if we didn’t do well. “We just kept bringing it every competition and it worked out for us.”

“Our goal at states was to place among the top five,” Surrena said. “Going top three was really good for us. It made up for last year when we were out there (at states).

“We had a lot of falls, just didn’t perform well. This year was the exact opposite. This gives us confidence to go to nationals and do well there, too.”

Fellow senior Victoria DeMatteis agreed.

“Definitely a confidence booster,” she said. “Our goal at nationals is just to perform well. Hit our routine and where we finish is where we finish. I’m just happy we were able to do so well in my senior year.”

While the four-time District 9 champion Moniteau team practiced five of six days a week leading up to the state competition, Coach DeMatteis emphasized the hard work and preparation isn’t over.

“We’ve already rented gym space down in Orlando,” the coach said. “We fly down Tuesday and we’ll be in the gym at 9 a.m. Wednesday. This isn’t a vacation.”

What it may be is the beginning of a run of success for competitive cheering at Moniteau.

“We’re hoping everyone sees the success we’ve had this year and more girls come out and join the team,” Surrena said.