Four local teams compete at cheerleading national championships; three bring home banners

POCATELLO — It is not completely outlandish to say that eastern Idaho is the new home to high-level high school cheerleading.

Last month, some 250 high school cheer squads from across the nation — primarily the west coast — converged on Las Vegas for the JAMZ School Cheer Nationals. After two days of intense competition, banners were handed out to top teams from different levels of competition for different routines (performance types). And at the end of the weekend, six of those banners came home to Idaho.

Blackfoot High School, which competed in level 3.1 all-girl, won the level championship for their show routine. Century High School, which competed at level 3 co-ed, took level championship in show and partner stunt — while also finishing second in both pom and sideline. And Highland High School, which competed in level 3 all-girl, won with their show routine, and was also named level champions and Grand Champion — with the highest-scoring show routine at the event, barring level and gender classification. Rigby High School also competed at the event.

Jess Gallup, head coach of the 15-time state champion Highland cheer team, said the announcement of Grand Champion was a bit of a surprise. The Rams were on stage posing with their newly earned level champion banner when the PA announcer informed the crowd that the team had also won the competition’s highest honor.

“Everyone started screaming … that was the best moment,” Gallup said about her team’s reaction upon being named 2025 JAMZ Grand Champion.

Taylor Sollomon, one of Highland’s two senior cheer captains, called the title an incredible honor.

“It feels really good to know that all of our hard work and dedication is paying off,” she said. “I’m very proud of everybody, but we also have to keep working, because we have state coming up.”

The State cheer championship is set for Feb. 28-March 1, and, according to Sollomon, it’s what her team is really focused on. Gallup called states the program’s “baby” — what Highland cheerleaders work year-round focused on.

How the competition works

Teams competing at JAMZ are broken up into classifications. But unlike the way schools are classified by the Idaho High School Activities Association (IHSAA), schools are not separated by enrollment size but by ability levels.

Century and Highland competed at level 3, the highest level. Blackfoot’s 3.1 level is a hybrid, for teams who compete at the highest level in some portions of their routines but a lower level in other portions, Century head coach Meagan Brockett explained.

Within the classifications, teams are separated into either the all-girl division — like Highland and Blackfoot — or co-ed, like Century.

The Century High School cheer squad poses with their banner. | Courtesy photo

Teams compete against the others in their classification and division in different routines (performances).

In Idaho, cheer squads compete in three routines: pom — which Brockett described as a one-minute dance performance — and sideline — which she described as a one-minute cheer performance. However, the granddaddy of them all, if you will, is the “show” routine — two minutes and 30 seconds of the best dance, cheer, stunt and tumbling action the teams can put together.

“That’s what we work all year for,” Brockett said of the show routine.

And Century is not alone. At the conclusion of JAMZ, Sollomon told EastIdahoSports.com. that Highland had “full out” — completed their entire show routine — 87 times this season. By the time they finish states, Gallup added, they will have done more than 100 full outs.

Because it is the main event, each team is required to perform their show twice at Jamz — first on Friday, and again on Saturday. Scores from both performances are combined for the overall score, with the second performance carrying more weight — 65% of it, according to Brockett.

That creates two distinct storylines.

Highland nailed their first show performance, and had to sit on their hands while waiting for a chance at a repeat performance.

Blackfoot, on the other hand, made some mistakes on Friday, according to “proud cheer mom” Amy Lilya, and had 24 hours to fix those mistakes. They did, Lilya told EastIdahoSports.com, and pulled off “an amazing comeback to take the national championship.”

The Blackfoot High School cheer squad don their JAMZ National Champions jackets after claiming their banner. | Courtesy photo

Earning their banners

Both Century and Highland took largely young squads to JAMZ — both of which made up of around half freshmen — so despite having already experienced JAMZ, neither coach was certain what to expect.

Century, who was named Grand Champion last year, had some veteran experience coming in. Still, Brockett was concerned how her youngsters would handle performing under the lights. But she shouldn’t have been, she said, everything about her team, all season long, has told her they were ready for the pressure.

“This team is so different,” she said. “They are so calm on the competition floor — it’s crazy, I haven’t had a team like this, I don’t think ever.”

They were so calm, in fact, Brockett said there was a moment when her concern switched to whether or not they were bringing enough energy out to the competition floor.

“The first time you go onto that national stage, it’s so nerve-wracking, especially for a big routine, like show,” said Andelyn Valentine, Century cheer captain. “After that, we were just like, ‘Guys, we did it once, we can do it again, and this time we can do even better without all the nerves.”

Now, due to that calm under pressure, seniors like Valentine will go out as rare two-time national champions.

Valentine said it feels good to carry that distinguished title.

“Especially because we’ve been through quite a lot these past two years. For everything we’ve been through, to say ‘we’re two-time national champs’ is pretty cool,” she said.

Highland was coming in with something else on their minds.

Gallup and her team finished second at JAMZ last season, so they knew they would be in the running, but had to be even better than they were a year ago.

“We were back for some revenge,” Gallup said.

Highland showed they were ready for the challenge on their first performance, but while warming up for their second, they made their coach a little nervous as well. The longtime coach said she watched as her team made mistakes she was not accustomed to seeing.

“Warm-ups were, kind of, a disaster,” Gallup said. “They were dropping things that I’ve never seen them drop before and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, here we go.’ Then they walked out on the floor and pulled it all together.”

Ellie Hedstrom, Highland’s Spirit Captain, said the team came together moments before taking the floor and had a discussion about breathing and executing.

Asked if it fell on the captains at all to rally the troops, Sollomon said that they are always all there for each other, regardless of experience.

“We all rely on each other, we support each other,” she said.

The Highland High School JV cheer squad practices while the varsity team prepares for an upcoming basketball game. | Kalama Hines, EastIdahoNews.com

Cloee Bobish, a sophomore and Highland’s “center-top” — or, the girl all the way at the top of the pyramid — said she can feel that support when her head is in the rafters. Even while she is 10-plus feet in the air, Bobish said, she is free to ignore the fear and focus on her job.

“It’s honestly just a lot of trust,” she said. “I’ve put in so many reps with my base and I know that our team is so close that they’re going to catch me no matter what.”

Gallup said that she held her breath for the full 150 seconds of that second performance. And she let it all out after they finished a perfect routine.

“They did so good. They really pulled it together, especially for being so young,” she said.

A special kind of serpent

Century took part in all three Idaho-competed routines — show, sideline and pom. Along with their show national championship, they finished second in both sideline and pom.

A modest Brockett timidly agreed that those finishes make her team among the most well-rounded of the 250 competing schools — at least.

But Century also entered one event that is not competed in Idaho — the partner stunt.

In this event, two cheerleaders — a base, Cale Spanton, and a flyer, Haidyn Talbot-Velasquez — have one minute to do all the exciting stunts they can. All the while, there is just one other person allowed on the floor: and spotter — Lilee Gutierrez — who is only allowed to assist in catching, should mishaps occur.

Because it is not competed in Idaho, Century had never put this routine to the test. They also had no clue what to expect from the competition. And to the entire team’s elation, Century won that as well.

But there was a waiting game there as well. According to Brockett, partner stunt was competed on Friday morning, but the winner wasn’t announced until Saturday afternoon. And when that announcement came out, Century’s corner of the building again erupted.

“It’s just priceless … because it was our first time doing that,” Brockett said. “That was pretty surreal.”

Cale Spanton and Haidyn Talbot-Velasquez show off their partner stunt skills during a recent practice. | Kalama Hines, EastIdahoNews.com

Brockett added:

“We were the only school to bring four different routines, to compete in. And we were the only school to, obviously, place in all four routines. We were busy.”

What’s next

Idaho’s cheer squads are now focused on state. But much more than that, many feel like they are still fighting for their own place at the athlete’s table.

Despite their long hours of training and full schedules — which begin with summer weight training programs, much like football — cheerleading can, at times, be looked down on as not equal to other sports.

“I feel like we’re always fighting for our mark in the sports world,” Brockett said. “Idaho still considers us an ‘activity’ rather than an athletic sport. But, that being said, here (at Century), we feel super-supported as athletes.”

Century cheer has its own practice space — on campus. And, as Brockett explained, some of the school administrators traveled with the team to Las Vegas in support of their efforts.

That support, Valentine said, means the world to her team.

Highland offers similar support, Gallup said, adding that she is aware of other programs that do not receive that same level of support.

“I’ve been doing this for 28 years, and nobody works harder than these girls,” Gallup said.

Perhaps the reason they have never carved their own place is because the job of the cheer squad is to support the other teams, and they have grown so preoccupied with those duties that they have not saved any time to fight for themselves.

As Valentine explained, cheer goes well beyond what fans see on the sidelines. Her team will get together to attend school sporting events and functions as a unit. They will even go, together, to events that aren’t attended by cheer teams, just to show their classmates they have the cheerleaders in their corner.

That mentality was even on display at JAMZ, as, despite being rivals, Century cheered as loud as anyone for Highland. And perhaps more surprising, Highland did the same for Rigby — something that would never happen on the football field.

How can the fans help

Traveling for cheer competitions, the way fans travel for football or basketball games, would mean so much to the cheerleaders. But they know that is asking a lot.

The next best thing, they agreed, is learning the cheers. By simply learning the fans’ portion of the call-and-response can reciprocate that energy back to the squad.

Plus, as Brockett explained, fan involvement is part of scoring during competition.

“We rely on our fans, whoever is out there, to help us out with that chunk of our scoresheet,” she said.

It is time that cheerleaders in Idaho — where some might just say the best cheerleading is done — get some cheers sent back their way.