Buford High School hosted its 10th annual Buford Cheer Classic on Saturday, Oct. 2, at the Buford Arena. The competition consisted of 70 competition cheerleading teams — 11 middle school teams, 11 JV teams and 49 varsity teams.
The first group of the day consisted of the 11 middle school squads. Buford Middle School came in first place in the large middle school division, followed by Cherokee Bluff Middle School in second place and Lakeside Middle School in third. In the standard middle school division, Greater Atlanta Christian took home first place, while Hart County came in second.
In both the JV and varsity divisions, Buford competed for scores only and did not take home any trophies from the competition as it is standard practice for the host not to place. With that being said, both teams representing Buford gave strong performances and if they were allowed to place, most likely they would have been one of the top teams.
“We were very pleased and excited with middle school, JV and varsity performances,” Buford head competition cheer coach Stacey Schmuhl said. “We had a lot to be proud of Saturday!”
The following are the results for the Buford Cheer Classic:
JV — Session One: Cambridge (first place) and North Gwinnett (second place)
JV — Session Two: McIntosh (first place) and Northgate (second place)
JV — Coed: Creekview (first place) and Buford competed for scores only
Varsity — A Public: Lake Oconee Academy (first place)
Varsity — A Private: Mount Paran (first place)
Varsity — AAA: Morgan County (first place), Greater Atlanta Christian (second place) and East Forsyth (third place)
Varsity — AAAA: Jefferson (first place) and Cedartown (second place)
Varsity — AAAAA: McIntosh (first place) and Ola (second place)
Varsity — AAAAAA: Cambridge (first place), Lanier (second place) and Creekview (third place); Buford competed for scores only
Varsity — AAAAAAA: Lambert (first place), South Forsyth (second place) and West Forsyth (third place); North Gwinnett competed for scores only
Varsity — Coed: Northgate (first place), Milton (second place) and Chapel Hill (third place)
The Buford Cheer Classic is larger than your average competition, which usually has between 20 to 40 teams competing. An event of this size requires ample resources to make it run smoothly. Staff from Buford City Schools along with 40 parent volunteers and athletes worked all day to make the event a success.
“Our cheer parents and cheerleaders were phenomenal. They are the reason our event is so successful,” Schmuhl said. “The Buford City Schools and their staff work tirelessly to make sure we have everything we need to run an event like this. It truly takes a village to make an event like this happen.”
The BHS varsity competition cheerleading team will be in action next on Saturday, Oct. 16, at Creekview High School.
Featured photo above: The Buford High School varsity competition cheerleading team makes a stunt look easy during the 2021 Buford Cheer Classic held on Oct. 2 at the Buford Arena. Photo by David McGregor
