The Powell High School cheerleading squad won the “Game Day” division at Saturday’s Heart Mountain Regional Spirit Competition in Cody.

The Panthers prevailed over six other squads to win the category, accumulating 281 points to 271 for the Lovell Bulldogs. Thermopolis (257), Riverton (248), Kemmerer (238), Rocky Mountain (236) and Campbell County-Gillette (232) followed in order.

The Panthers are coached by Vicki Walsh and Cindy Jacobs.

“I was very happy with the outcome of this competition,” said Walsh. “The girls’ performance was spot on and they had so much energy and really nailed it. Game Day is all about crowd involvement and the girls executed that nicely.”

The squad added two boys in December, with their job being to stunt and yell cheers through megaphones, Walsh said.

“They have added so much to our stunting and been a big asset to the team,” Walsh said of the guys. “This was a new experience for them both and they both did great.”

She added that, “Overall the competition was a lot of fun and I was very happy with how all the kids performed.”

Saturday’s “Game Day” victory continued Powell’s success at the Heart Mountain Regional Spirit Competition; the PHS squad won both the Game Day and All Girls Stunt categories last year.

The third-annual event was hosted by Heart Mountain Gymnastics and is intended to provide spirit teams with the opportunity to practice and compete ahead of next month’s state meet.

“At state there will be more teams to compete against,” Walsh said — and she expects top level competition.

When the Powell squad heads to the Casper Events Center on March 11, the team be looking to defend the Class 3A title in Game Day Cheer that PHS won 2019.

“I couldn’t be more proud of these kids and all the hard work they all put in,” Walsh said Wednesday. “It has been a fun year.”