On Thursday, Jan. 14, the varsity cheer squad, coached by Brandy Cricchio and Kayla LeBlanc, won third place at the first annual UIL State Spirit Competition.

The cheerleaders competed against 56 4A teams across Texas, advancing to the final round where they went up against nine other squads and performed a well-practiced routine that consisted of a band dance, the LCM fight song, and a crowd leading cheer.

“We began working on the competition routine when football season ended,” senior cheer co-captain Kami Foskey said. “The team prepared for the competition by practicing in cheer class during school and also staying after school.”

According to Foskey, the squads goal going into the competition was to advance to finals. Once they achieved that goal, and were announced as one of the 20 teams to advance, they set their sights on making the top ten.

“After performing in finals, the announced the tenth through fourth place teams, and we began to lose hope,” Foskey said. “The annoucer than said ‘In third place for our 4A divison…Little Cypress Mauriceville High School!’ We were estatic being able to reach both of our goals.”

Junior Makennah Moreland said a personal motivator for her was to have fun with her friends, to make their sponsers proud, and to see their hard work pay off.

“Next year, I would love to see our team go back and place again,” she said.