Cheerleaders compete in UIL Spirit Competition

    Cheerleaders from Industrial and Edna high schools competed at the 2016 UIL Spirit Competition held in Arlington from Jan. 13-16.
    For the Cobras, the girls brought home some awards, 12th overall, second place in Band Dance and third place in Crowd Leading Cheers. Cheerleading sponsor Beth Turk said this year is the first year for the Cobras to compete, aside from Summer Camp competition.
    “I am proud of all my girls, but my three head cheerleaders are really instrumental in our success, Kalli Ellis, Haley Branum and Cierra Borak,” she said. “They take my creative, crazy ideas and run with them. They have great leadership skills, and organizing and preparing a squad of our size in not easy and they do it amazingly well.”
    The Cobras competed with 18 girls, and Turk said the junior varsity cheerleaders she pulled up rose to the occasion because of the patience and leadership of her head cheerleaders.
    Turk also wanted to thank her assistant Katie Anders, and staff members Laura King and Lacy Neill for helping with the competition, before the trip and during.
    “I love my job and I feel very blessed to be a part of these girls’ lives,” Turk said. “I hope I have touched their lives and values in a positive way, because they have touched mine.”
    This is also the first time the Edna cheerleaders competed, and cheerleading sponsor Kayla Darilek said it’s the first time cheerleading has been sanctioned a sport in Texas according to UIL, plus they get an athletic credit for it.
    “We can expect it to become a bigger event in the future. Most of my girls have never stepped on a competitive mat before so it was really exciting for them,” Darilek said. “I am so proud of the effort they put forth in work toward this event and I look for many more improvments from here on out. They have definitely shaped themselves into a true dedication of what it means to be a team.”
    She added how proud she was of her captains, Dolly Ortiz and Lauren Kaelin, for being such strong and dependable leaders, not to mention her seniors for setting an example to the younger girls. “I definitely own them a huge thank you because I leaned on them pretty heavily as far as responsibilities go, and they both stepped up to the plate without any hesitation.
    “I am most thankful to their parents for sharing these girls with me and for being so accommodating to make this trip happen,” Darilek continued. “They made a lot of sacrifices with their time and money and their support was endless. I am also thankful that my principal and vice principal were so supportive in wanting us to take on new challenges. If there was an obstacle (and there were many), they definitely helped find a way around it.”
    The cheerleaders from both schools worked hard to make it to competition and represent, and hope to do it again in the future. They made memories and friends to last for as long as possible.