Southern Illinois high school cheerleading squads gave it everything they had Friday, but failed to qualify for the state finals competition on Saturday.
Teams from Carterville, Sesser-Valier and Anna-Jonesboro high schools were among 25 teams in Illinois to win state tournament berths in the small school division, while Mount Vernon High School was among 25 schools in the medium school division.
The IHSA cheerleading championships are being held Friday and Saturday in Bloomington.
The preliminary competition was held Friday. Only the top 10 teams in each division – small, medium, large and co-ed - moved onto the Saturday finals.
Mount Vernon came in 13th. The 10 medium-sized schools that moved on are Crystal Lake Central, Columbia, Oak Forest, Grayslake North, Yorkville, Lemont, Tinley Park, Morris, Antioch and Grayslake Central.
In the small division, Anna-Jonesboro finished 14th, Sesser-Valier 15th and Carterville 18th. The 10 small schools that moved on are Breese Central, Rockford Lutheran, Reed-Custer (Braidwood), Paris, Rockridge (Taylor Ridge), Farmington, Byron, Mater Dei (also in Breese), Oakwood (Fithian) and Timothy Christian School (Elmhurst).
