Archbishop Carroll’s cheer squad participated in the Philadelphia Catholic League cheer championships and earned a bid to go to Hershey to compete for a state title.

The girls’ competition cheerleading team competed in the PCLs on Dec. 10 and 11. Carroll’s team placed second against Archbishop Wood in the Division 2A Large Varsity category.

“I’m so proud of my team for our performance,” said senior captain Caroline Downs. “We were really nervous going into the competition because not all teams were guaranteed a bid.”

The team is fairly young this year with a majority of the girls on the squad being freshmen. The freshmen pulled out all the stops, however, and helped the team secure their spot at nationals and states.

“Going into cheer as a freshman was nerve wracking, but we have a really nice team that works together,” said freshman Hailey Camp. “It made it so much easier and our team has progressed so much since June.”

The team began their training for this season in June and has made an effort to prioritize their team bonding. Their hard work has paid off because the team has received a bid for the third year in a row to compete in Orlando for the national title. They earned this spot at the regionals competition in Allentown. The squad will compete in three other competitions this year and will host a competition this month.

“Our future plans for the team are to make it to round two of our States and nationals competitions,” said head coach Abbey Hart. “The girls have worked so hard this year, and continue to push at practices to make these goals possible.”