“It was just a season where I think our whole sport was fighting a pandemic and our girls really made that the theme of their season”

to just make every day a miracle. And so, we feel like every day that we got to compete and every day we got to practice was a miracle. So today was just another miracle. We’re really, really thankful and blessed.”

The 3rd time was truly the charm for Lexington High School competitive cheer head coach Leigh Watson.

She had led the Lady Wildcats to consecutive Top 3 finishes at the SC High School League finals. Each time, they witnessed perennial state champion Chapin HIgh School emerge with the 1st place trophy.

Saturday at the Florence Civic Center, Lexington edged out the 15-time state champion Lady Eagles and prevented them a 6th consecutive state title. With Lexington outpointing Chapin 340-337, it allowed Watson to finally hold the 1st place trophy in Class 5A and claim the school’s 3rd state title since 2013 and 6th overall. 

“Honestly, nothing was really different,” she said. “It was just a season where I think our whole sport was fighting a pandemic and our girls really made that the theme of their season - to just make every day a miracle. And so, we feel like every day that we got to compete and every day we got to practice was a miracle. So today was just another miracle. We’re really, really thankful and blessed.”

For the 2nd straight week, 4 of the Top 5 finishes were from Region 5-5A. Following Lexington and Chapin in 3rd place was River Bluff (313 points), then St. James (305) and Dutch Fork (303) to round out the top 5.

The team captains afterwards talked about this being “the longest season” they’ve experienced in their career. From 2 team quarantines to battling injuries, this was a championship season with an increased layer of stresses they were able to overcome.

“The kids did it,” Watson said. “They did everything that we asked. They stayed safe. They wore their masks and spread out and it worked out.” 

In the 2 other state finals, Brookland-Cayce placed 9th in Class 3A (won by Belton-Honea Path) and Airport tied with Catawba Ridge for 5th place in Class 4A (won by AC Flora).