EPHRATA — The Ephrata Tigers cheer team traveled to Battle Ground High School over the weekend to compete in the 2A Cheer State Championships. The Tigers went on to take first in the 2A Game Day Co-ed competition with a final score of 87.9. 

“It went really good,” said Tigers head coach Heather Wood. “We performed great in both routines. We had an infraction in our Co-ed Tumbling, but our Game Day, we came out there and brought it.” 

Wood said the Tigers were ready to compete going into Saturday’s competition and knew their performances had to be on point. While there were some nerves going into the competition as they headed into a venue of thousands of spectators, the team pushed through to give all they had.

“We have been improving every time that we’ve got onto the mat for comps, and the last one was in Moses Lake, and we scored the highest we’d ever scored in Moses (Lake) so they were feeling really good about the Game Day,” said Wood. “We’ve added some elements; we definitely brought some energy and so they felt really good going in with that one.”  

The Tigers first competed in the 1A/2A Co-ed Tumbling event late Saturday morning, during which a slight fall caused an infraction. They earned third with a score of 71.9, just short of Hudson Bay’s score of 72 for second.  

Ephrata had time to rest before the 2A Game Day Co-ed event in the evening, where they executed their performance to take first place with 87.9. Lakewood followed at 84.8 and Aberdeen with 82.3. 

“Oh, they were pumped,” said Wood. “I mean, you can’t say much when it’s our first team championship as cheer and only competing for three years is pretty big, so they were on a high. They loved it.” 

This was a career-defining moment for two of the seniors with the Tigers, Izzlee Haney and Michael Park, who have been with the team since they started participating in competitive cheer during their sophomore year.  

“It was great for them to go out with the state championship because they started it,” said Wood. “They started the whole journey with competitive cheer and for them to finish and getting a trophy is pretty big.” 

The coach said all nine seniors on the cheer squad were amazing with the team this season, and it was exciting for them to finish their careers with this legacy left behind.  

With the cheer season behind them, the Tigers are already gearing up for their next season, as Wood said the team is working on selecting tryouts and open gym dates for the near future. Though there were some ups and downs throughout this season, the legacy it left behind on the school will be remembered for years to come.  

“I’m extremely happy, we started with some pretty low numbers at the beginning of the season and to produce the numbers that we ended up producing, it was a huge accomplishment,” said Wood.  

Ephrata Cheer Roster 

Annjolenn Ahmann  

Hannah Allen

Carson Andrus

Jacob Bartlett

Amalya Bastida

Jaelyn Brown

Payton Canfield

Isabelle DeHerrera

Brody Fleurkens

Bryson Fleurkens

Chastaty Garcia-Zepeda

Alexys Hallatt

Izzlee Haney

Victor Hernandez Gutierrez

Cooper Kriete

Kimberly Ortiz

Michael Park

Charlies Poirrier

Madilynn Pruneda Gonzalez

Yaritza Rodriguez Gomez

Kennedy Schafer

Scarlett Uribe   

    Jacob Bartlet from the Tigers shouts into a megaphone during a showcase before the state championships.
 Justin Alaniz   

    Annjolenn Ahmann holds up a sign with Kim Ortiz cheering in the background during a performance at a Tigers showcase held at home prior to the state championships.
 Justin Alaniz   

    Tigers cheerleaders Chastaty Zepeda Garcia, Alexa Bastida and Brody Fluerkens seen working on a pep chant during a showcase earlier in the month.
 Justin Alaniz   

    Tigers cheerleaders work together on a group stunt during a showcase at Ephrata High School in preparation for state. The team went on to take third in Co-ed Tumbling and first in Game Day Co-ed at the state competition.
 Justin Alaniz