Prairie High School cheer wraps up its first actual fall season since 2020 and gets ready for the 2022-23 winter season! 

This team made it through tough trials and tribulations, but despite the hard times they finally got their first normal season after 3 years. When covid hit, many sports were held to high restrictions but this team made their comeback look easy!

With the cheerleaders on the sideline in support, the varsity football team was able to finish 6-4 overall and made it to the first round of playoffs. Lexi and Sadie Kienzle are captains and Grace Doyle is the assistant captain for the fall season. 

Both Lexi Kienzle and Sadie Kienzle got nominated for National Cheer Association (NCA)  All-American. The NCA All-American is a popular program in cheerleading where individuals receive awards based on the display of technical skills, leadership, and personal values. 

With the winter season around the corner, Lexi Kienzle and Sadie Kienzle will remain captains and Kaitlyn Kanooth will take over the role of assistant captain. Grace Doyle, a senior who is retiring from her position as the assistant captain, expresses how cheering for her last football season felt “bittersweet,” she expresses how she was thrilled at the end of the day because “I was finishing strong with my best friends and we are all moving on to big and exciting things.” 

This season, despite the great success, came with adversities to overcome together as their previous coach had stepped down and their assistant Coach Hannah had stepped up to the head coach position. Grace Doyle says “this season was better than I expected, Coach Hannah had the coaching style of a more college-oriented approach since that’s where many of our girls were headed.” Coach Hannah is greatly appreciated by this team as Doyle stated “I’m so proud of Coach Hannah and the team” 

Many of the cheerleaders expressed the Prairie cheer program as family and they couldn’t imagine life without the closeness on the team, but one struggle they overcame this year was a lack of communication. Grace Doyle says “the only reason this was a struggle was that they hadn’t really had a regular season in three years, we were lacking the sense of normalcy and needed time to regain it.” 

One message Doyle would leave for the younger girls is “Not to be scared to stand out, that honestly is what cheer is all about. Enjoy every second of it.” 

The 2022 cheer season went amazingly well for everyone, and the girls are ready for their winter 2022-2023 season!