By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports writer

Last year, the Holliston High cheer team did something that the program hadn’t done in quite some time – they were able to advance into the Division 3 State Championships. Holliston Athletic Director, Matt Baker, who has been with the school 10 plus years, had  never seen the program make it to the States during his tenure at Holliston. 

Putting together a strong performance at the South Regionals last year, the Panthers were able to score an 82 and move onto the States where they would finish 12th in the Division 3 Championships of Massachusetts.

“It was definitely not where we wanted to finish, but we dropped a stunt and it cost us,” Panther Head Cheer Coach Kim Flannery said. “Although we finished 12th the girls were very excited and happy to have gotten the chance to compete there.”

At the time of this writing, the Holliston team was preparing to get ready for the Regionals and hopefully move onto State (Saturday November 22 in Worcester) once again. While they are getting their routine together for the Regionals, there was a time during the season where Coach Flannery and her assistant Ali Geldieva were not sure they were ever going to make it there.

Holliston began the season finding themselves injury prone.

“Having a really young team with a lot of freshmen trying to teach these young girls high school stunts can be a little tricky,” the Coach said. “We had a couple of concussions and were never really able to get our routines going, but over the past few weeks we pushed through everything and here we are.”

Holliston’s first invitational this year had a lot of the girls not knowing what to expect, but by the time the second invitational (at Bristol Plymouth Tech) came around, the team was ready. The Panther Cheer squad walked away with first place. 

Recently, Holliston competed in the Tri-Valley League Championship, and although extremely nervous going in, the girls knew they had to perform if they wanted their season to continue. Needing at least a score of 66 to move onto the South Regionals, Holliston grabbed fifth place with a score of 74 points. Although it was a lower finish than they were looking for, the girls are anxiously awaiting the Regionals to prove themselves.

A handful of the older girls who have stepped up during the team’s rough beginnings have been captains Lexie Bowie and Gracie Ristuccia as well as Sarah Parnell. Bowie is a junior base that provides the lifting of Parnell while Ristuccia, the squad’s only senior, tumbles and also does base.

“Being the team’s only senior, we rely on Gracie a lot to guide and teach the younger girls the expectations of being a winning team and how to act while in uniform,” Flannery said. “The incoming freshman have no idea what to expect, and Gracie is there to create a team camaraderie.”

Parnell, currently the team’s only flyer, has had a lot of the team’s routine put on her shoulders, especially through the air. According to the coach, being the only flyer can put a lot of pressure on the junior, and if she gets hurt, the team has no routine. Being thrown around for 2 minutes and 30 seconds while doing elite stunts can be tough on one person.

The Panther Coaching staff has been pleased with the way the team has worked diligently throughout the season. Although it was tough goings at the beginning with two girls out due to concussions, they are all building that trust back with one another  bonding as a team on the mat.

As the Regionals approach, Flannery and Geldieva are making the needed adjustments to what the girls can do to perform a clean routine and earn a spot in the States for the second year in a row.

“The girls are extremely excited and have been pushing one another,” the Panther Coach said. “Our goal is to go out and have a solid performance and hopefully score above an 80 so we can go back to the States.”

The Holliston cheerleaders are definitely looking to set the bar higher this year while being able to secure a score higher than the one they got last year. With a little work the coaching staff is positive the Holliston girls can achieve that.