The athletes on Spotlight Studio North Star's level four competitive cheer team Sirius are serious about their sport.

Sirius won first place at the 2021 Cheersport National Cheerleading Championship in Atlanta Feb. 13 and 14. The team wowed audiences and judges to earn a 73.125 event score on day one and a near-perfect 97.65 on day two.

It's the first time an Idaho team has competed in Cheersport, adding another layer of excitement to the victory.

"To actually win a competition of that scale almost felt unreal, especially being from here, because we have such a small gym," team captain Anthony Neff said Friday.

Neff, 20, is a 2019 Lake City High School graduate who is in his fifth year with Spotlight. He serves as the back spot during stunts, making sure the flyer doesn't fall.

"I'm kind of like a kickstand for the stunt," he explained.

The team includes about 20 athletes ages 12 to 26. They have been working on the winning routine since early last summer, practicing at least four hours a session, at least three days a week.

"At practice, when you do it 100 times it gets exhausting and you sometimes get extremely frustrated," Neff said. "But when you are hitting, it is literally nothing but exciting. It is beyond fun when you can hit it every time and be completely confident in it."

Cheersport usually draws about 65,000 people and numerous teams from across the country. Because of COVID, this year's event was limited to about 40,000.

“It’s one of those sought-after cheerleading competitions," Spotlight mom Melissa Cheney said. "It’s a big deal if you’re a team that’s good enough to compete in it. It's like the Super Bowl for cheerleaders."

The next step for the team after acing Cheersport is to compete at the National Cheerleaders Association All-Star Nationals, for which the team is taping a performance soon, and the Universal Cheerleaders Association Cheer Competitions.

"If you win all three of those you get a triple crown and they send you a ring and jacket," Neff said.

Beyond that is Summit, which takes place at Walt Disney World and is aired on ESPN.

"They want to win all four," Cheney said. "It's really exciting."