The Lamar dance team placed second in the MAIS Class 4A state competition Monday at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson. Pictured are, from left, Sarah Paige Shirley, Lucy Plott, Emma Kate Stephenson, Emma Grace Johnson, Cameron Jacob, Jordan Jones, Caroline Prewitt, Ella Coleman and Katelynn Smith.

The Lamar cheerleading team usually begins workouts in April, but the COVID-19 pandemic halted all spring sports activities in the MAIS.

They didn’t start regular practices until June, a major disruption to their routine, and with protocols designed to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, even the practices themselves weren’t the same as prior years.

The Lady Raiders were coming off an MAIS Class 4A Game Day Cheer state championship and wanted to make it two in a row, but captain Hannah Grace Hannington admitted things were much tougher this year. Despite the difficulties, the Lady Raiders came out victorious Monday at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson, winning the 4A Game Day cheer division state championship once again.

“It was definitely a different feeling winning this year (versus last year) because there wasn’t as much competition last year and with corona, we weren’t as prepared as we were last year,” Hannington said. “It showed that all of our hard work paid off, and we got rewarded for that work.”

Lamar’s junior varsity team also placed first at the competition in the JV Game Day cheer division, and the school’s dance team finished in second place for the second time in three years.

“It felt great, especially having never coached before,” said cheerleading coach Stephanie Mendoza, who took over the squad this summer. “Both of our teams got first place, so it was a big win.”

Amanda Slay, who coaches the dance team, said her squad placed second two years ago, but before that the last time the squad placed was in 2008, and Lamar didn’t have a dance team for several years in between.

“It feels like it all paid off, all of the long nights and early mornings,” Slay said. “Also, so many girls do multiple sports, I don’t know how they do it. I have one girl with a hurt knee who still participated.”

As a first-year coach, Mendoza said inheriting an experienced team that had already won a state championship last year helped with the transition.

“The girls, especially the varsity ones, are especially proficient by themselves,” Mendoza said. “They get stuff done when they need to, and they put in a lot of time and effort, even when I’m not here.”

Cheer captain Lana Irby said the team practices Mondays through Thursdays and works on their competition routines one or two days a week. That’s on top of regular game day and pep rally work, and the many hours are what makes winning state so rewarding.

“It’s amazing,” Irby said. “It’s a good way to end our senior year.”

And winning despite so much uncertainty due to COVID-19 made the accomplishment special, too.

“We haven’t had everyone here all the time, so we had to become more flexible,” Hannington explained. “Things were changing daily. No one really gets to see what goes on behind the scenes with cheer, and seeing us on the competition mat shows how hard we’ve worked beyond what we do on the football field.”

Slay said she wanted to thank Amy Joyner of Amy’s School of Dance for choreographing her team’s routine.