The sounds of cheering, clapping and rhythmic stomping could be heard through the halls at Enid High School on Nov. 6, where cheer teams from all over the state, including the Eagles, convened for the OSSAA Game Day 4A Regional Competition.

Although the team has competed before, according to junior Delnaz Kazemi-Esfarjari, this contest was different.

“We have never done anything like this,” she said.

Cheer captain senior Dyllan Manz said the process of putting together a routine presented some new struggles for the team due to the smaller size of the Eagles cheer squad.

“We already had a band and fight song dance so we just had to figure out a cheer,” Manz said. “We had to find a crowd-leading cheer that we could do and modify easily for ourselves.”

 “At first to be perfectly honest I was a bit nervous that we weren’t going to have our routines done in time,” she added.

The team was proud of their work, Manz said, but ultimately didn’t pass onto the state competition.

Although the team did not advance to state, Manz said the team was happy.

“[Cheer] has been really good, especially because of the competition,” she said. “We get to do different things than last year.”

Ahead of the cheer team now is a season of basketball games, Homecoming and Senior Night. The next home basketball game is Friday, Dec. 3 at 6 p.m. for the girls and 7:30 p.m. for the boys.