During the weekend of the second to last week of February 2026, Poland Seminary High School’s Cheerleading Squad made their way to Columbus to compete in a state qualifying competition. Throughout the season, Mrs.Hurdley, the cheerleading advisor, pushed her girls to become the strongest they could be. For instance, cheerleaders prepared by having practices after school days, CheerTime Athletics cheer extravaganza, etc. To continue, Hurdley’s team had to first qualify at Regionals located in Massillon, Ohio to kick off becoming state bound. Grades 9-12, were scored by a panel of judges for technique and more. 

Friday, February 20, each girl a part of the squad, as well as Coach Hurdley and Assistant Coach Pushay began their journey to Columbus. To embark on the exciting competition weekend, a team bonding experience occurred at Dave & Buster’s letting the girls have a chill night before the performance of a lifetime. Saturday morning rolls around fairly quickly for the cheerleaders.

A team member, Senior Julia Snyder described the early hours.

Snyder said, “We woke up around, 5:30 to start getting fully ready, meaning, slick back ponytail, full beat makeup, paw print tattoo on our cheek, and lastly the uniform.”

Another member, Hailey Canfield expressed, “Everyone drove to Big Walnut High School, and we had to be there pretty early in the morning to get signed in and settled before performing.”

Two more seniors spoke about how the process works. Emma Puhl said, “All of us had some time to sit down before doing our warm up to let our minds think and take in all that is about to happen.”

To get more insight on before stepping on the mat Melina Livosky revealed, “Each team competing gets the opportunity to have ten minutes on the warm up mat to go through their whole routine, after the ten minutes we head out to the doors where right behind them is the mat to perform on.”

To conclude after all the information, these girls placed fifth out of ten teams in division 4 game day mount. Let’s go dogs!