Yelm cheerleading takes second place in state in 1A/2A/3A/4A non-tumbling medium event

Yelm High School’s cheerleading team capped off its 2025-26 season in tremendous fashion on Friday, Feb. 6, and Saturday, Feb. 7, at Battle Ground High School, as the Tornados took second place in the 1A/2A/3A/4A non-tumbling medium event.

The Tornados finished the non-tumbling medium event with 75.2 points — finishing just behind W.F. West, who had 77.6 points. Additionally, Yelm placed fourth overall by scoring 78.3 in the 4A game day large competition. The team finished behind Skyline, Chiawana and Eastlake in the standings.

YHS cheer coaches Madison Hummel and Kennedy Villeses told the Nisqually Valley News on Monday, Feb. 10, that they’re incredibly proud of the amazing athletes on their team — adding the entire weekend-long competition was a showcase of their hard work and athleticism.

“Like many sports in Yelm, we had our struggles this year. We lost athletes, which meant redoing both of our routines entirely more than once,” Hummel said. “We had moments where we didn’t know if we would even get to compete this season. We went into some new divisions this year, which meant proving that we had what it took to compete with some of the best of the best in this state.”

The coaches said the team worked hard all throughout January and cleaned up what needed to be cleaned. After a month of hard work, the team had prepared their best routines possible on the floor in both divisions.

“The top four teams in our non-tumbling division were all extremely close in score all season long,” Hummel said. “We went into Friday night wanting to hit our routine and leave it all on the floor knowing that we were up against some tough competition who wanted it as badly as we did! Our cheerleaders hit every stunt, executed a clean routine, and truly left it all on the mat.”

The coaches added that the team went into the award ceremony both proud of themselves, but knowing there was a possibility of not placing — as all of the other competing teams did an “amazing job.”

“When they called our name for second place, I truly did not believe it at first,” Hummel said. “That feeling was surreal and it just proved that other people finally saw all of the hard work they had done.”

She added that the competition on Saturday provided a very similar feeling as the day prior, as the team’s athletes went into the award ceremony knowing they were up against tough competition.

“They showed up, left it all on the floor and though we did not end up where we wanted placement wise, their score was still their second highest of the season and it was one of their best performances yet,” Hummel said.

“As coaches we couldn’t ask for a better ending to the season we all went through,” she continued. “We have an amazing group of seniors that truly helped to lead this team to the second place win. We are so excited for the future of our program and though this season is done we can’t wait to get started for next year. Now that we know what it feels like to get second, our kids coming back are hungry for that state champion feeling.