Cashion Cheer Trifecta

There was no flat tire this time.

But there will be another ring.

Cashion High School bounced back from a disappointing performance at the regional to win a third consecutive Class 2A competitive cheer championship last Saturday at Union High School in Tulsa.

En route to the regional the previous weekend, Cashion’s transportation suffered a flat tire, which prompted a flurry of last-minute scrambling to get to the competition site in Chickasha.

Arriving late, Cashion ultimately placed third at the regional behind Hinton, which won four straight state titles from 2017 through 2020 and Crescent, the state champ in 2021 and 2022.

“Our girls were definitely more motivated to work after regionals week because they don’t like getting beat,” said Cashion cheer coach Amber Hobgood.

Cashion was also third at the regional - behind the very same two teams - in 2024.

However, that group had eight experienced seniors and Hobgood was confident they’d respond.

There was a level of confidence in this group, but also some reality.

“We have a lot of work to do, but I believe these girls can work hard and do it,” Hobgood said after the regional, before adding, “It’s not going to be easy, though.”

And Hobgood had no intentions of making it easy on her team as she increased its difficulty going into state.

“They score you differently at state,” she said. “The regional is about being in sync in all your skills and loud.

“State is about being in sync and being loud, but also having the most difficulty in your routine.”

On top of that, nothing is easy in cheer, especially at a small school when athletes must be shared with a multitude of other activities.

Some cheerleaders also play softball, which had regionals in the middle of the week, which forced the cancellation of a scheduled showing on Wednesday.

Still others are in FFA, which has its share of competitions and stock shows taking place.

“It’s so hard to fit in as many practices as we need to hit such a hard routine, but our softball coaches and ag teachers worked with us,” Hobgood said.

“The majority of our practices were at 6 a.m. several times a week.”

Cashion’s basketball coaches did their part by giving up the gym during their practice hour on Friday.

That allowed the cheer-leading team to have a showing for the entire student body; a chance to perform its more difficult routine in front of a crowd for the first time.

And then there’s the cheerleaders’ “other” job.

They had to cheer on the football team - at Merritt - on Friday night, which is two hours away.

“The football team had a bye week the week before, so the girls were able to go to bed early for regionals,” Hobgood said.

That wasn’t the case the day before state.

The team got home around midnight and had to be back at school by 6:45 a.m. to make the trip to Tulsa.

This time the trip went smoothly.

Cashion nailed its routine and produced a score of 238.8 points, which was 13.8 points more than the week before.

“Maybe they thrive on less sleep!” said Hobgood.

Cashion’s score was two points better than runner- up Crescent.

Savanna took third with 233.2 and Hinton fourth with 230.6.

Hinton and Crescent were once queens of the mountaintop as they combined to win six straight titles.

That title now lives in Cashion, owner of the last three state banners.

This year’s team includes seniors Jayce Bradley, Kylie Henson, Hadley House, Kyndal Isom and Azlynn Thomas; juniors Dylan Ahem, Ruby Carson, Blake Cavner, Addi Hood, Olive Hostetler, Ruby Hudson, Adalynne Poston and Sadie Weaver; sophomores Emerie Eubanks, Reese Hobgood, Khloe Kastner, Kate Nabavi and Olive Powell; and freshmen Zoie Cox, Cami McGuire and Leighton Nye.

“These girls are busy, but they all bought in and trusted the process,” Hobgood said. “They worked hard on skills they haven’t had to do before since we lost eight seniors last year.

“They stepped up to the challenge. I’m so proud of all of these athletes.”