CENTER TWP — Butler’s cheer team is getting ready for the PIAA Competitive Spirit Championships.

Again.

The Golden Tornado’s coed team recently won the WPIAL title in that division and is headed to the state competition Jan. 26-27 at the GIANT Center in Hershey.

Butler’s cheer team went co-ed during the the 2017-18 school year. Butler is the only WPIAL school to qualify for the PIAA Competitive Spirit Championships every year since that event was created.

The Tornado finished first or second in the coed division at the PIAA competition in each of the past three years.

“The history of this program is huge for us,” Butler cheer coach Kristin Karam said. “Our athletes know we go after championships here at the state and national level.

“When they join us, they know they have to be ready to work. There is a lot of confidence and positivity here.”

Butler tallied 79.2 points at the WPIAL competition, easily beating out Beaver Falls and Hopewell for the coed crown. Those were the only three teams in the coed division.

There will be approximately 16 coed teams in the PIAA field.

“We had to qualify (for states) with an at-large bid,” Karam said. “We’re lumped in with the all-girl teams that way, which is difficult because the all-girl and coed routines are totally different.”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s an at-large bid,” Butler senior Benny Buser said. “We’ve gotten in before that way and wound up winning the thing.”

Buser has been in competitive cheer since eighth grade. There are nine seniors on the squad, all but one of them involved with the program since at least ninth grade.

Nathan Adams joined the team his junior season.

“One of my friends on the team talked me into it,” Davis said. “This team always believes it can get better and never stops working to do that.”

Between practicing three days a week and cheering at Tornado basketball games, the cheerleading unit is at its craft on most days through the course of a week.

“We go hard at practice all the time,” senior Lynaeah Broadie said. “We’re pretty exhausted and tired afterward, but we hold our heads up high.

“The tradition of this program pushes us to do better.”

Other seniors on the team are Amelia Holt, Katie Smith, Alaina McKee, Kaylee Letcher, Elizabeth Vicari and Westyn Foster.

Ella Davenport, Lucy McFall and Nevaeh Lee are juniors on the squad. Sophomores are Klayre Brown, Madi Lewis, Olivia Flanigan, Emma Hilliard and Alexis Cetti.

Freshmen are Alexis Kelly, Corinne Hindman, London Davis, Halle Swidzinski and Kendall Strawbridge.

Whiler Butler competes in the Universal Cheerleading Association (UCA) Nationals in Orlando, Fla., every year, the cheer squad has its eyes fixed on winning the state crown.

“It’s very hard to win at nationals,” Letcher said. “While that’s quite an experience, states are big for us. Thatr’s where we want to make our mark

“That’s what we’re focused on from Day One.”

Just getting to the PIAA competition adds another chapter to the Tornado cheerleading legacy.

“We feel some pressure at WPIALs because we didn’t want to break that streak,” Foster said of Butler never falling short of an appearance in Hershey. “We have so much pride as a team that way.

“We all bond together as a result. We have each other’s backs ... you feel that as soon as you commit to the team.”

Smith agreed.

“We all look out for each other,” she said. “We’re in this together.”