Liberty High School's cheerleading squad placed eighth in the state of Pennsylvania at the PIAA State Competitive Spirit Small Division Cheerleading Championships on Jan. 24 in Hershey.

"It was a great feeling. We were happy we made it this far, and it was our first year competing. We owe a lot to our coaches [Erin Michael, Robi Hanley, and Meghan Maxwell]," said Liberty cheerleader, Payton Pinter.

The competition began on Jan. 23 with 42 squads competing in a preliminary round. The top ten were automatic qualifiers for the next day's finals, but the Hurricanes placed 11th, meaning they would compete in semifinals against ten other squads for one spot in finals.

"That was a lot of pressure because it determined who went to finals," said Hurricane cheerleader, McKenna Clearie.

Liberty's routine went off without a hitch.

"We hit everything. Nothing fell, and nobody touched down in tumbling at all. Everyone was really excited. We ran to our coaches right after and asked how it was. They said it was the best we had ever done before," Pinter said.

After all squads competed in the semifinal round, it was announced that Liberty placed first with a score of 217.7.

"We were all screaming and hugging each other. We had a feeling we would be first or second. We were just so happy," said Pinter.

Prior to states, the Hurricanes made some eye-catching changes to their routine.

Clearie said, "We made our opening stunt a lot harder. We added a ton of difficulty to the pyramid, and we added tumbling."

In finals, Liberty scored 208.5 points. First place was awarded to Pine Richland High School with a total of 250.9 points.

"Getting to states, even qualifying was a big deal for us. It was nothing any of us ever expected," said Clearie.