Siloam Springs' competitive cheer team has been knocking on the door of a state championship the last several years.
The Panthers and Lady Panthers have had two state runner-up finishes in 2018 and 2020 and finished third in both 2019 and 2021.
Siloam Springs was not going to be denied in 2022.
The Panthers and Lady Panthers finished first place in the Class 5A-6A co-ed cheer division on Friday, Dec. 16, at the Arkansas State Cheer Championships at Bank OZK Arena in Hot Springs.
"It's been a long time coming," said varsity cheer head coach Jackie Clement.
Siloam Springs finished first ahead of second place Bentonville, Rogers Heritage, Van Buren and Fort Smith Northside.
Siloam Springs was the smallest team in its division, Clement said.
"We've been competing against teams with 20 plus kids, and we're already set at a disadvantage (due to size)," she said. "Our kids have to work twice as hard to get where they want to get. I'm extremely proud."
Clement said this is her ninth season in charge of varsity cheer at Siloam Springs.
She said her first year, the cheer squad didn't compete in competitive cheer but it has been building and working to get to this point.
"These athletes spend so many hours with me," she said. "It's a lot of work. Every single one of these kids believes in our program and what we're doing.
"It's been a goal of mine to try and bring home a state championship for this team. It doesn't even feel real at times. We've worked so hard to here. The kids pulled it off."
Clement knows what the Panthers and Lady Panthers are feeling. As a high school cheerleader at Claremore (Okla.) High School, she was a part of two state championship teams she said.
"I wanted them to have this experience and be able to feel that," she said. "It's pretty cool to coach a state championship team, too."
The state championship was the sixth competition of the season for Siloam Springs.
In the five previous competitions, Siloam Springs received either first or second in every competition.
The Panthers and Lady Panthers started the season Nov. 12 in a competition at Springdale Lakeside, where they won first place in their division, received the highest point total of all teams and won best stunts.
Siloam Springs took second place to Bentonville in a competition at Alma on Nov. 19.
Siloam Springs won the music portion at that event, while Bentonville took the cheer portion and won overall by half a point, Clement said.
"It was very, very close," she said. "We've been back and forth with Bentonville all year long."
Siloam Springs took first place at Fayetteville on Dec. 3 and also took first place and best stunts at Gentry on Dec. 7.
On Dec. 10 at Bentonville, Siloam Springs took second place to host Bentonville.
Cheer teams receive two-and-a-half minutes to perform with a portion being the "music" competition which includes all the stunts, tumbling and jumping, and then the "cheer" portion in which the team leads "crowd cheer material," she said.
At state on Friday, the teams were judged by three cheer judges and two music judges, and the scores were averaged and added together for one composite score.
Siloam Springs finished with an 85.16 out of 100 possible points. The team received zero deductions, Clement said.
Clement said the team has taken the goals of other Siloam Springs teams and "embraced those goals and decided we wanted to do it."
She said the team has practiced more than it ever had and asked for more practices.
She said the team practices around 10-12 hours per week, mainly in the evenings because several of the athletes are involved in other sports like football, basketball and volleyball.
"They were very determined to keep working," she said. "They're a good team unit that's always pushed each other. We've had great senior leadership and great junior leadership.
"They have great chemistry together and have worked very well. They took criticism to work harder and good team chemistry helped them to push through to make the state finals."
Clement also pointed out that Elicia Williamson of Elite Cheer, has done an excellent job of helping choreograph the team's routines.
"A lot of athletes come from the Elite Cheer program," Clement said. "It's been like a feeder program for us. That's important for us to build."
The Siloam Springs cheer program has produced eight Division I cheerleaders and several others to small colleges as well.
Team members are Hallee Williamson, Isabella Rovira-Anglin, Jaylin Roberts, Faith Ellis, Emma Fiddler, Maddie Herrel, Olivia Harris, Britain Glenn, Cailee Johnson, Maggie Lee, Daxton Moody, George LeRoy, Gio Flores, Cooper Church, Rusty Pickup and Dallion Miller.
Coaches are Jackie Clement, head varsity coach; Madi Boyd, assistant coach; Cara Whorton, sideline varsity coach; Elicia Williamson, choreographer/Elite Cheer coach; Dalton Ferguson, coach/choreographer from Elite Cheer; Montana Herrel, volunteer coach; Keelan Dameron, University of Arkansas cheerleader/volunteer coach; and Kolby Bowman, University of Arkansas cheerleader/volunteer coach.