LYNCHBURG, Va. (WDBJ) – The Hill City Athletics College Prep Cheer team accomplished something that no other competition cheer team in Virginia has ever done: they won a National High School Cheering Championship.
The Storm team competed in the gameday competition in the 11-18 year old division. They were the only competitors in the division, but they were still required to make a certain score in order to be achieve the title of national champion. As a result of their performance, they won gold medals, a trophy, and white jackets that are “pretty much every high school cheerleader’s dream to wear,” according to cheerleader Kaiyah Seigla, a member of the team.
“When we got them, I was a little shell-shocked because I was like, like, ‘somebody pinched me,’ like, this isn’t real,” Seigla said.
The team is captained by Lilli Reynolds and coached by Susan Hunter and Mariah Dailey. They practice at The Edge Martial Arts and Tumbling gym on Timberlake Road in Lynchburg. They spend a lot of time there, according to Reynolds.
“This is all I do,” Reynolds said. “It takes a lot of conditioning. When we don’t hit something, we run until we can’t anymore. It’s a lot of hard work, honestly. It’s really hard.”
Reynolds also coaches younger cheerleaders. She said the girls on the team are her best friends.
“I love my team,” Reynolds said. “You find your future best friends, the people you’re going to grow up with.”
The practices take a significant investment of time, effort, and money from the girls’ parents, as well. Jenn Glover said every family vacation is a trip to watch her daughter Olivia compete. Practices take up most days, as well.
“You can’t plan anything on Sundays, or Mondays, or Wednesdays, or really any other day, because the have practice.”
To the girls and to their parents, the sacrifices have been worth it. They believe, as well, that those sacrifices will continue to be worth it. Dailey has positioned Hill City Athletics as a college prep program, and she says most of her girls plan to continue competitive and sideline cheering in college. They even hope to earn scholarship money to cheer.
“A lot of long practices, deep conversations with your coach and just like understanding if you want this you have to put in the effort and the time,” Seigla said of what the sport requires.
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date: 2026-02-10 04:42:00
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