CENTER TWP — Two broken ankles. One back surgery. Two departures from the program during the summer.

Butler’s competitive cheer team faced plenty of adversity at the start of the season. The Golden Tornado received plenty of reward at the end of it.

With a trip to the Universal Cheer Association Nationals coming in a few days, Butler is coming off a second-place finish in the coed division at the PIAA Competitive Spirit Championships in Hershey. The Tornado trailed only McDowell, which beat them out 92.5-85.2.

“This was a tough year for us,” Butler senior Mya Slomers said. “But we kept on coming. We stayed together.”

That was never more evident than at the finals of the PIAA competition. Butler came out of the preliminary round trailing McDowell by the scant margin of 90.7 to 90.6. But the Tornado had a bobble early in its two-minute routine during the finals.

“There are no second chances when that happens,” Butler coach Marianne Miller said. “You can’t call a timeout. You can’t try a different play. You just have to keep going.

“Our team held it together. No quit on the routine. We finished strong and that’s what earned us that second-place trophy. That’s what champions do and these kids are true champions. I’m proud of all of them.

“McDowell has great athleres and a great routine. So do we. We had a few deductions and they didn’t. That was the difference. But we know we’re right there with them.”

Butler finished second at the PIAA competition for the third successive year. The Tornado won the state championship when this year’s seniors were freshmen. Since the PIAA Competitive Spirit Championships came into existence nine years ago, Butler is the only WPIAL team to qualify for the event every year.

Senior Mike Wheeler, in his second year with the team, admitted to a bobble early in the routine during the final round.

“I just didn’t hit my opening coed clean. It cost my team,” Wheeler said. “This is an extremely competitve sport, very challenging. That’s what I like about it. But I’d love to have that one back.”

Fellow senior Lillie Hans quickly dismissed any thought of singling out an individual.

“We win and lose as a team,” she said. “We’re in this together. We’re a family.”

The team practices three or four nights a week, for two hours each time. It will go through the routine four or five times during each practice session.

Miller said repetition is the only way to get it right.

“You want to get to the point where you’re performing the routine flawlessly in practice, over and over,” the coach said. “If you’re not hitting it spot on in practice, it’s not magically going to happen during a competition.

“When you’re at that castle in Disney World, the lights are brighter, the crowds are bigger, it’s a different world. Our skills need to be perfect.”

Senior Mylee Tate said the team practices the routine so much that it stays with her all the time.

“One hundred percent,” she said, smiling. “I can still hear our cheer song in my head when I go to bed.”

“I’ll catch myself working on my dance in a room at home when I’m by myself,” Hans said. “I go over the count in my head all the time. I love it, being that dedicated to something like this.

“I don’t think we’ll feel any pressure at nationals. We just want to hit our routine as best we can. As long as we do that, we’ll take the result we get.”

Jenna Birckbichler, another senior on the team, believes the Tornado may have been too excited entering the final round in Hershey.

“You’re naturally a little nervous, but I thought we were so excited, so hyped up, that it may have cost us,” Birckbichler said. “We were really wired. But I think we learned from that.”

Miller recognizes the adversity her team fought through to get to this point.

“Besides the injuries and roster changes, we dealt with COVID and quarantine issues,” Miller said. “We changed things up based on who was available at practice. Everybody just fought through it.

“I truly believe that any sport is 90 percent mental, 10 percent physical. We have a very mentally tough group here.”

Along with seniors Birckbichler, Slomers, Wheeler, Tate and Hans, team members include Madison Varner, Carson Boden, Anna Munko, Emily Meyer, Matt Davis, Alaina McKee, Westyn Foster, Katie Smith, Ben Buser, Amelia Holt, Lynaeh Broadie, Sara Meyer, Lucy McFall, Addy Evanko, Ella Davenport and Madison Lewis.

Kristin Karam is the assistant coach.