Halls’ Unified Cheer team is the state champion
By Steve Williams
Halls High School has a new state champion.
Its unified cheer team took first place at the TSSAA State Cheerleading and Dance tournament that was held in Knoxville Nov. 6 and 7.
With this state title Halls also made history by winning the first Unified Cheerleading State Championship on the high school level. Rhea County also made history by being the first middle school team to do it.
Halls competed in the “Game Day” category.
“The team was made up of eight special education students partnered with eight general education peers,” said Head Coach Alex Yanniello.
The special ed students had varying disabilities.
“We have a student that primarily uses a wheelchair,” said Yanniello. “We’ve got all different kinds of disabilities, physical and intellectual.”
The athletes on the team were Jeremiah White, Brooklyn Toney, Cassandra Popova, Karina Naumowicz, Jaxson Hickman, Morgan Holbert, Obowya Lohure and Katie Quinter, while their peers were Hayden Evans, Makinley Holbert, Kyliegh Stalsworth, Scout Gilreath, Natalie Hoffmeister, Rylie Tollett, Lydia Smith and Kinzlee Ferguson.
To get ready for the state tourney “they learned a routine and they had about four practices,” said Coach Yanniello.
“There were five schools in our division and we won!”
The other four high schools were Karns, Powell, Anderson County and Gallatin.
Every team does a routine and judges score them and whoever scores the highest is the winner.
After winning, “They were super excited,” said Yanniello. “I think probably the most special thing about us ‘carepeating’ and winning is the community and the relationships that are built.
“A lot of times those students with disabilities – they’re not included in sports and the student section and all the extracurricular activities, so this was a chance for them to get to be a part of that and kind of build those typical like normal relationships that high school students should be building with each other. That was their first opportunity to be a part of a team, so I think that was probably the best thing that came out of it.”
In this case, they also came away feeling like state champions and like all Halls High School state champions before them.
“We had one little girl,” said Coach Yanniello. “She got on the elevator after they had won and she held up her arms and said ‘I did it!’ It was just super exciting for them.”
“We had one little girl,” said Coach Yanniello. “She got on the elevator after they had won and she held up her arms and said ‘I did it!’ It was just super exciting for them.”
