The Lancers varsity cheer team had another spectacular season. This was a nearly perfect season for the Lancers, leaving the team and LRHS with a season to remember for time to come.

Coach Erin Lauterhahn thought the Lancers had an incredible season. Coach Lauterhahn said, “Varsity went undefeated in the Big North Conference head-to-head match-ups, taking the regular-season title in the Small West Division in our home gym against West Milford, and then took the overall Small Division Title again at Lakeland against Hackensack High School. The girls competed almost every weekend outside of the conference, earning 1st place at Saddle Brook High School and landing in the top 3 everywhere we competed. They also finished in 3rd place at Reach the Beach Nationals with the best score we have ever gotten at a national championship which was a 95.00 and zero deductions.”

There were a lot of key players for the Lancers this year. According to Coach Lauterhahn, “The varsity team was led by seniors Kendall Lomascola and Maggie Toledo, who really stepped up in times where we needed them. They both fought through injuries during the year but always showed up when we needed them and stepped up big time.”

Coach Lauterhahn also credits juniors Kelly Kuhar and Linda Caramanna for leading the team through a successful season, saying. “There is always pressure on flyers to stay in the air during a competition and they did not let us down.”

With the success of this season, the team is already looking ahead. Coach Lauterhahn said, “We have some really talented girls coming back next year too so I’m really looking forward to seeing how our upperclassmen like Jessy Kuhar, Tina Fenske and Steph Lehman step up and how our underclassmen continue to develop to keep the program moving in a successful direction.”

Lehman said, “This was such a great year for us because of nationals and winning the small division title, and I am definitely going to miss every senior.”

There were a lot of huge moments for Lancers this year. These moments made this season one to remember. On her favorite moment, Coach Lauterhahn said, “Personally, I believe the best moment for us this season was clinching the regular-season Big North title on our home mat against West Milford. What a lot of people don’t know is that we had to change our routine about an hour before we were hosting as one of our girls was sick and unable to compete. We had to change people around, put people in positions they are not accustomed to, but still managed to put out a good performance to beat West Milford and go 6-0 on the season and take the regular-season title.”

Coach Lauterhahn described how the the win was even more special with the recreation cheer program, the Junior Lancers, there to support them. “The gym was SUPER loud as the girls performed, and it made it so special to have the younger girls there to cheer us on and support us and get to see what it’s like competing in an atmosphere like that.”

The lady Lancers pushed themselves and persevered through everything their season threw at them, and they brought them a very successful year. Hopefully the Lakeland Lancer cheerleading team can have a lot more of this greatness next season.