By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
Sports fans in the county are aware of how talented the basketball squads are at North Adams and Peebles High Schools, but the two schools also boast some pretty talented cheerleading squads. That was apparent at the recent Ohio Association of Secondary School Administrators (OASSA) state cheerleading competitions.
In what is known as the Division V Building category, the North Adams squad took first place and the state title while the Peebles squad placed second in the same category.
Long-time North Adams cheer coach Sally Anderson explained the competition.
“There are five regional qualifiers for OASSA state competition. You have to attend one and score high enough to qualify for state finals. At the regional, they don’t give you your scores and there is no “placement”. You either qualify or you don’t and you get feedback from the judges on your performance. OASSA uses our numbers from the OHSAA but have their own division breakdown using those numbers. There are six divisions and both North Adams and Peebles were Division 5. There are three main categories at the competition- GameDay, Traditional and new this year, Hype. There are sub-categories within those. For example if you are Traditional you are either building or non-building. Both North Adams and Peebles competed in Traditional Building.”
“State finals were at Big Walnut High School in Sunbury on Sunday February 23. North Adams was the defending Division 5 Traditional building champions from last year and is the OASSA State Division 5 Traditional Building champions again this year. Peebles was the state runner-up. Adams County was well represented.”
(North Adams photo by Danielle Jodrey, Peebles photo courtesy of Peebles Jr./Sr. High)
