On Feb. 24 and 25, Del Val Cheerleading competed in the New Jersey State Finals.

Many hours had gone into preparation, and the team placed second out of three in Traditionals.

Although the team was more focused on its Game Day performance, they placed better for its Traditionals routine. The performance was a zero deduction routine, beating Hackettstown High School.

“Lots of hard work and dedication goes into each competition routine to get the outcome that we want,” sophomore Erin Bate said.

The team was nervous about going on the mat before Traditionals, as their warm-ups had not gone as planned, but the team pulled off an excellent routine.

This dedicated team put plenty of time and hard work into perfecting the routine, as recalled by senior Sara Matthews

“We put the routine together, we added upgrades to the routine, we added a dance, and we all learned that in a week,” Matthews said. “We went out there and we got second which was better than expected.”