Two Jacksonville schools gave a spirited farewell to teams scheduled to compete in the state championships this weekend.
Routt Catholic High School’s spirit team, the Routt Rocket cheerleaders, and the Our Saviour School seventh grade boys basketball team were each greeted with fans and shouts of good luck as they each prepare to compete for the title of state champions.
Routt’s cheerleaders traveled to Springfield Friday, where they competed in the preliminary round for the Illinois High School Association cheerleading championships in the small-school division.
The girls placed 19th in the division, and will not advance to the finals today.
Our Saviour School’s boys basketball team will be traveling to Central Middle School in East Peoria today for their first round of the Illinois Elementary School Association Class 1A State Tournament.
Seventh-grader Braden Cors said he is looking forward to the experience.
“I can’t wait to find out what it’s like to play of the top people that we might play against,” Cors said.
Coach Stefan Mierzwa said win or lose, he is proud of what his team has accomplished.
“I tell them there are two different ways to go about it: either they can go there and be happy you made it, or they can go there with the mindset of winning, ” Mierzwa said. “I try to emphasize to them that we need to enjoy it, but at the same time know that you got there for a reason.”
The Shamrocks earned their place after defeating Franklin on Wednesday.
Seventh-grader Jesse Bowman said it is games like these that help them grow as players.
“You’re meeting new people and seeing what they can do,” Bowman said. “It gives us a chance to see what we can do. If we win, great; If we lose, at least we had a good season.”
If the boys defeat Decatur Our Lady of Lourdes, they will advance to the semifinals at 5 p.m. today.
“If for some chance we don’t (win), I think we’ll still be happy with the results, and I think we’ll still be excited that we got this far,” Mierzwa said. “They still have another year to come back, get better and come back and hopefully do it all over again.”
Whether the team wins or loses, Mierzwa said he hopes the boys learn from the experience.
“I hope they appreciate the fact that they are one of the best teams in the state, so I hope they take away from the game that they didn’t get there by not working hard, that to maintain this level of success they’re going to have to continue to work hard and learn that nothing is given to you.”
