Woodinville Elite Wins 2025 Junior State!
Photos & Article by Amy Powter, Amped Photography
After being crowned the 2024 WSCCA Junior State champions the work soon began to determine how to top that season and defend the title. Cheer Director & Head Coach Julia Miller & Cheer Program Manager, Amy Powter worked throughout the off-season to establish strategies and procedures to secure a successful sideline and competitive season for Woodinville Junior Cheer. The state title brought with it notoriety and renewed interest in the rec Cheer program in Woodinville. We saw a record numbers of girls sign up and had to turn some away already having 4 large teams and twice as many cheerleaders as the previous season.
As competition season neared, the cheerleaders began to prepare for a comprehensive tryout process. 21 spots were earned by hard-working & talented cheerleaders ranging in age from fourth through ninth grade. This team began practicing in October ramping up their practice schedule as the sideline season came to an end. It wasn’t unusual for this team to practice up to four times a week and even utilize a racquetball court for practice when the school district was closed due to power outages. A team of dedicated parents helped to transport mats to and from practices and be there to help spot stunts for safety. They utilized NSD cafeteria space and pieced together mats of all different sizes, varying thicknesses, and materials to help create a safe practice surface. Regardless of combining 20 mats it still didn’t come close to the size of the competition floor the team would be competing on where spacing was critical. The team would use three rolls of blue tape per practice to tape out the lines to represent the actual dimensions of the floors used for competition.
This team embarked on an ambitious schedule of five different competitions, facing new opponents and knowing they had a target on their back this season. They first competed in comp in the swamp at Decatur high school where they hit zero and were declared champions! The following weekend took them to Auburn Mountain View and the jungle jam competition, where they once again earned the title of champions. One week later, adding new complexity to the routine they competed in the spirit of North Shore at Bothell high school on Dec 21st. Once again, Woodinville elite took home the title!
After a nice holiday break, the team came back with renewed energy, excited to tackle a new pyramid, and added complexity to their stunt sequences. They traveled to Gig Harbor to compete in Gig Harbor’s cheer fest. They beat their closest competition by 15.8 points!
They didn’t stop there and added even more complexity and difficulty to the routine preparing for state and practicing four times in the week leading up. They traveled to Yelm Washington for the WSCCA junior state championship. As they had the highest score in the state thus far they were to compete last and all their competition would go before them. It was business as usual for the team as Coach Jules led them through their warm-ups and visualizations in the hallways of Yelm high school before officially starting the warm-up procedure on the mats. It is a well oiled machine, allowing them a rotation to warm up their stunts and cheer. Finally at 11:40 AM Woodinville Elite Junior Cheer took the mat. The floor was filled with rival teams there to witness first hand if Woodinville could defend their state title, the stands were packed with friends & family members who made the trek to support this team or others.
A quadruple Baja their coach nicknamed The Wicked Flower started off their routine grabbing the crowds attention. They quickly transitioned to four stunt groups only technically needing 3, a front walk over, pressed to extension and a 180 rotation of the 4 flyers. Then a low to high heel stretch to a quarter cradle back walkover out. A half up to extension prone down front walk over out, left the crowd, gasping followed by applause as the team transitioned into the Cheer section of their routine. F-L-Y Fly Falcons Fly echoed throughout the gymnasium as the team commanded the crowd to cheer with them and shout, their colors, green and white, the team utilized flags, poms, signs & megaphones to add to their visuals. As the music kicked back in, they began their precision, dance routine, followed by three gravity, defying jump sequences. Phil Collins epic drum solo from In The Air Tonight signaled their grand finale pyramid to begin. An extended braced TikTok heel stretch, followed by a 360 spin before a single braced front flip was the backdrop for a reverse prone to Baja before their pyramid transformed once again on a single plane where a double inversion that was caught and pressed to an extension single braced TikTok, Lib as the grand finale of their routine. Their energy and excitement was unmatched as they hugged and the crowd went wild! They soon found out that had hit zero signaling another round of excitement and hugs! This meant they had zero deductions and would be awarded full credit for all the hard work and skills that they had perfected over the many months. There was a long wait for the award ceremony as the team took a deep breath, celebrated with friends and family who made the trek and although chilly they did enjoy some sunshine and beautiful views of Mount Rainier. As the anticipation built for the award ceremony, the team was confident they had left it all on the mat and done everything possible to defend their title. When it came to announcing the junior non-tumbling division the Bonnie Lake Jr Panthers were announced in third place, crosstown rivals Bothell Jr. Cheer earned the title of second place and once again Woodinville Junior Cheer was crowned as 2025 WSCCA junior state champions. Their top score for the year was a 73.8! They are celebrating this amazing achievement, but also headed right back to practice to transition their routine for the USA national competition in Anaheim California next month.
Please help us in congratulating this incredible team:
Addison Beresford
Ainsley Thompson
Alyssa Stemmermann
Anika Nygaard
Ellie Worsley
June Vammen
Kate Cooper
Katie Powter
Lillian Nolan
Livy Miller
Maddy Brueckner
Malia Ji
Morgan Beresford
Olivia Holland
Reese Olsen
Riley Beresford
Samantha Wren
Siena Iverson
Sophia Morales
Trinity Revoir
Zoe Smith
Head Coach & Cheer Director: Julia Miller
Coach: Emily Cooper
Coach: Gerard Boulanger
Cheer Program Manager: Amy Powter
Team Manager: Dani Beresford
Spotter: Aimee Thompson
