Tigers cheer historic bid to nationals

When Hagerstown High School’s cheer coach, Kayla Vinson, lands in Orlando, Florida, in January, she will have completed two firsts — her first time at Disney World, and the school’s first national cheer competition. 

In November, the Hagerstown Tigers participated in the 2A Game Day division at the Hoosier Cheer Coaches Association Spirit State competition. Their victory gave the team its first bid to compete on the national level. The students set the goal for nationals, and despite it being their first effort, Vinson and coach Erica Glunt committed to the goal. 

“Kayla and I immediately started working and was like, ‘OK, how are we gonna do this?’ We wanted to make it happen for the girls,” Glunt said.

The coaches opened spots for the competition squad to its 22 members. A total of 16 joined. In addition to their studies, a regular cheer schedule and other extracurricular activities, they began regular evening practices, which was a feat Glunt compared to rocket science. 

“Finding time is really hard. So, when they were like, ‘We want to compete,’ we had to tell them…we’re not going to get there if you’re not dedicated to it. We stress that you have to be here,” Vinson said. 

Attendance was a top priority, along with high expectations. Team members practiced certain stunts a hundred times until the routine became muscle memory. 

“When you get out in front of a stage and a panel of judges who are staring at you…that’s so intimidating. When you blank, knowing that your muscles are going to pick up in muscle memory and know what to do for you was also important,” Vinson said. 

“It’s been really hard,” junior cheerleader Zaylee Payne said. “We’ve had some weeks where we have practice every day with games in between, but I think that all of us cheerleaders know this is what we asked for. What we really want. It’s something that we’re never gonna forget, and we made Hagerstown history.” 

The blood, sweat and tears paid off, as sophomore cheerleader Aurora Allen recalled the moment she heard their name as the winners. 

“I started crying … My heart just dropped because we had worked so hard,” Allen said. She was impressed that what they had orchestrated in merely three months could best what some schools had been practicing for longer.

But the fruit of this labor wasn’t planted in 2025. Both Vinson and Glunt cheered from seventh grade through graduation in 2017 and 2022, respectively. They witnessed their coaches rebuild the program, making today’s efforts possible.

“This program has been a part of my life for about 15 years,” Vinson said. “And I just bleed purple and gold.” She’s also a teacher at the elementary school. 

“I started coaching the same year I graduated,” Glunt said. “I wasn’t looking forward to leaving when I was a senior, so getting the opportunity to come back and coach … I got to keep my heart in the program.” 

Allen, who tried out as a joke with friends last year, realized cheer was more than just “pom-poms and glitter.”

“It really is just like a family,” Allen said. “I made a lot more friends than I thought I would and [it] helped me come out of my shell a lot.”

Payne has been cheering since third grade, but stated how Vinson and Glunt have “made it a whole different experience in high school.”

“Their leadership has made me want to go to college for cheer and competing,” Payne said. 

The Tigers squad won’t go it alone as two other local squads will compete. Centerville High School and Williamsburg’s North Stars teams will return to the national competition. Vinson said both more experienced squads have been resources for the Tigers. 

“Those coaches have been fantastic. Just answering questions that I have since this is our first year,” Vinson said. “Having those resources locally that I know personally was so helpful throughout this process.”

In addition to the other squads, Vinson and Glunt appreciate the community rallying behind the girls. Financially, the team has sought donations to meet the $1,000 travel cost per cheerleader, a burden they were aware of. But it’s the moral support that has impressed Vinson, who feels cheerleading is such an underrated sport. 

“People think that we go out there and we just, you know, smile and yell. It is so much more,” Vinson said.

Payne, who is a squad flyer, even changed her family’s perspective.

“They didn’t see the effort that we put behind it, and now that they went to my competitions and everything, they’re like, ‘Wow, like you guys are really working hard.’ Also, I think that Hagerstown makes it a sport. We make it really hard; it’s like conditioning basically. We fall a lot and we get a lot of bruises, but I think we get back up, and a lot of people can’t do that.”

Bruises and all will accompany the Tigers for their five-day excursion to Orlando. Departing on a Thursday, they will compete in preliminaries on Friday. If successful, they move on to the semifinals on Saturday, where a victory there will place them in the finals on Sunday. Even if they aren’t victorious, they have two-day passes to Disney World. 

“I’m a big Disney nerd, so I’m really excited to just go,” Vinson said. “But I think for our squad, the competition aside, I am so excited to make memories with these girls.”

“I couldn’t have said it better,” said Glunt. “We kind of got to see the hard work pay off by getting up into nationals, but I think it won’t really hit me that we’re here until we’re actually like performing. And it’ll be like, ‘My gosh, we did it.’”