The Combs cheer team has been diligently practicing in hopes to place well in their upcoming performance at The Spirit Consultant 2024 competition the weekend of Feb. 2 at Millennium High School in Goodyear. The Combs All Girl stunt group that includes Payton Huber, Amber Peterson, Aleena Jacobs, and Morgan Hallihan performs on Friday.
The girls are hitting the practice mat hard to correct mishaps from earlier in the season. At their previous competition, part of the routine didn’t work out when their flyer fell. Freshman Brilee Lucas was at the competition to cheer on her teammates and record their performance, and she recounted the experience as frustrating, since that part of the routine was something that they had never messed up on, and if it weren’t for the fall, they could have placed higher. Additionally, it was difficult for them to continue on with the routine after something went wrong.
“At the moment you like want to cry, but you can’t,” Lucas said. “You have to hit everything else.”
Friday’s competition marks the last of the year for the All Girl stunt team. Using the feedback from past performances, the stunt group is hoping to fix and tweak their routines to do the best they can. Practice has included doing full outs, which include running the routine repeatedly in order to become as comfortable with it as possible. Additionally, the past competition helped them to learn new lessons and gain even more experience.
“I learned to stay consistent and confident,” Freshman Payton Huber said. “Also to stay calm because being uptight can ruin the routine.”
In addition to the All Girl stunt group performing on Friday, there will be a Game Day performance on Saturday, which includes the entire team. This will officially be the last competition for everybody, and freshman Brilee Lucas is excited to perform and show off the work she has done.
“My goals are to win and give it our all without mistakes,” Lucas said. “It feels kind of crazy because it is the last competition of the season so it feels like we have to go out with a big bang.”
