Another year, another step forward for Cathedral cheerleading. Irish Cheerleading had what Jessica Stoner considered yet another successful season in 2023-2024, success marked by a strong competitive showing and a continued dedication to the program’s primary philosophies and goals. That made it a year for growth in memorable fashion. “We’re continuing the positive things, which is what we want,” Stoner, in her third season as Irish Cheerleading coach, said. Irish cheerleading in ’23-24 featured 36 members – the largest team in Stoner’s tenure – with a strong class of 15 freshmen that figures to be the foundation for the future. “We’ve been consistent,” Stoner said. “We’ve wanted to keep the same mindset on what the program is supposed to be doing and what those girls are there for when it comes to representing Cathedral as a cheerleader. “That was the main goal three years ago, was to kind of bring that spirit focus back. I feel like we’ve truly stayed consistent and continued that.” Stoner added, “The focus is still being in front of the student body, being able to bring spirit to not only the games – for the crowd and the teams that we're cheering for – but also to represent ourselves in those student activity environments when it come different things that are put on at school with assemblies. “The main focus was always still games and making sure that we were role models in that sense.” The program in ’23-24 featured 23 members on the competitive team, and was led by a four-member senior class that provided significant leadership and included Ali Smith, captain; Sofia Foley; Kayla Dunson and Rosalena Duncan. All four were in the program four years, and Stoner said they represented the last of the group that were with the program during the COVID-19 pandemic. “They definitely over the last four years brought a lot to the table,” Stoner said. “This last year for them, I think, was a great experience being together as the four of them. Seeing them being able to complete that last year – just the camaraderie and morale and positivity they brought to the squad was huge.” The Irish in ’23-24 competed in the Indiana Association of School Principals’ Indiana Cheer Championship rather than the national competition that previously often ended their season. The Irish’s timeout routine qualified them for entrance into the competition, with the program finishing 10th of 24 teams. “It was a different year of us going through tryouts and kind of putting some things into perspective when it came to those types of competitions here locally,” Stoner said. “Going to nationals for as many years as we've had in a row, state being a local thing and knowing that obviously all of our other sports teams at Cathedral compete in state competition locally, we really wanted to take advantage of it. “If we wanted to do it, it was kind of a good year to take a break from nationals and focus on state. Maybe in the years to come we integrate both types of competitive competitions or alternate and do state one year and nationals one year and still give people the opportunity to compete at a high level.” Stoner said the program’s numbers allowed Irish Cheerleading to shift focus a bit in ’23-24, with the freshman team cheering for girls varsity basketball in addition to jayvee and varsities cheering for football and boys basketball. “It was such a great experience,” Stoner said. “I'm so glad we decided to do it. The feedback we got from not only fans but from the administration and the girls' varsity coach – as a whole it was just so warming. “It was just such a positive response to having those girls there to help bring energy and promote the spirit and just give the games a little bit extra. We were really only able to do that because we had such a big team where we were able to make it look and feel hopefully what those games were looking for.” And with the numbers in the program continuing to increase, Stoner said the future remains bright. “We have seven juniors returning as seniors next year,” Stoner said. “It will be a big class. There's a lot of great leadership amongst them. We think we have a great team and that it will be a great year.”