The Lincoln Southwest competition cheer team and Emeralds Dance team competed at the Heartland Championship on Feb. 6. 

The Emeralds won first place in Class A Kick and Pom, and they won overall Grand Champions.  

“I love how we have created a family on Emeralds,” junior Kynlee McBride said. “We are super close and always support each other no matter what.” 

The cheer team placed second in Class A Traditional, and fourth in Class A Game Day. They had zero deductions for their traditional routine. 

“The best thing about being on the competition team this year is the positivity, and the new coaching has been very helpful,” junior Aniah Dierking said. “You really have to be able to focus on not only yourself, but as a whole team.” 

Both teams used this competition as preparation for the upcoming state competition in Grand Island. 

“To get them prepared for State, we have to create a State-like atmosphere,” head cheer coach Aliyah Westlund said. “We give them the same warm-up time they will get at State and have them run their routine full-out. We will score them and fix changes that are needed and as we see them.”

Both teams will be competing at the Nebraska State Cheer & Dance Competition on Feb. 17 and 19. Cheer will be competing with their game day performance at 10:36 a.m. and their traditional performance at 1:38 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 17. The Emeralds will be performing their pom routine at 1:56 p.m. and their high kick routine at 3:48 p.m. on Saturday Feb. 19.