What a difference a year makes.
Impressing audiences last year with only two cheerleaders performing at the Colorado Spirit championships, this year 15 athletes stepped forward to represent Bayfield High School.
With top-notch performances, the team captured third place in the 2A-3A coed category on Saturday at the Denver Coliseum.
"It's a really good feeling," said Caitlyn Phillips, one of two seniors competing on this year's squad. This is the first time in years that BHS cheer qualified for the finals at state.
"It was really sad," she said of performing for the final time at the coliseum. "But I am so very proud of my team and all the hard work and dedication we have put into this routine."
The squad began practicing the routine this summer.
"We had our best performance that we have ever performed in the prelims, leaving our entire team in tears of joy!" the team's coach, Annette French, wrote in an update to the Times. "I couldn't be more proud of our team. We have so much potential and we've just begun!"
Indeed, this year's team has seven freshman.
French also is proud of Phillips and team captain Kaitlyn Gosney. "They have hung in there, keeping this sport alive!" French wrote.
Saturday's performance was a little tougher than Friday's preliminaries just because the team was worn out, Phillips said.
"But we pushed through it," she said. During practice, the team has dropped several moves, but during performances at football games and at state, they hit every stunt.
Last year, Phillips had a concussion and couldn't join her two teammates at state cheer, so returning her senior year and making finals was gratifying.
She thanked French and Kira Nash, the assistant coach, for all of their work this year.
Gosney said Friday's performance was "just like an instant wow moment." All the cheerleaders knew they had nailed their performance.
While she's also a little nostalgic as she finishes her senior year, she's excited for the future.
"This is such a great team, they're very talented." And with mostly freshman, she's looking forward to more state finals in upcoming years.
The Bayfield team unfortunately had a sad sendoff last week as the cheerleaders and dancers left Dec. 7 for state competition. They learned two students at Aztec High School had been fatally shot, including Casey Marquez, a captain on Aztec's cheerleading squad.
The Bayfield cheer team wore orange bows, Aztec's school color, to the state finals to honor the memory of the Aztec students.
"Our hearts and prayers go out to her school, friends and family as well as to the others involved in this tragedy," French wrote.
This year's Bayfield cheerleaders are Phillips and Gosney, along with Cayenne Carlson, Alyssa Fischer, Dawson French, Giana Gallegos, Dylan Hilliker, Lakin Hoover, Bella Madonna, Kaeli Marx, Kalon Mead, Eli Monyek, Kira Reily, Cheyenne Rowse and Hannah Whitmer.
They are looking forward to performing for crowds at upcoming home basketball games.
