PLANT CITY, Fla. — The Plant City High School varsity cheer team made history this season.
Not only did they win the regional championship for a sixth straight season, they won the state finals, UCA Nationals, and were crowned Grand World Champions.
“Hearing our name called for that kind of award is just an incredible feeling,” senior Raylynn Thompson said. “I still don’t believe it because this is what you work for all four years.”
It’s a season that will be impossible to forget. For the senior class, they won a third state title (2022, 2024, and 2025), en route to nationals.
“When we got to Nationals, everybody walked out there with a calmness,” senior Emma Jones said. “We come in and do it every single day, so we’re going to go out there and do it one more time.”
“All of them have experienced it being so close but having it slip through their fingers,” head coach Skotti Mesquita added. “Honestly, we learned so much from our failures and mistakes. This team pushed the difficulty, pushed the performance to do everything they needed to do.”
The joy of winning nationals quickly turned back to the mat. Immediately after that win, the team competed again in the world championships at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports.
“We’ve been real close the last couple of years but haven’t been able to follow through and get that amazing routine,” Mesquita said. “We got that routine this weekend and won our first national championship. And, to win Worlds, to have all three. Some people call it the triple crown. No one in Hillsborough County has done that before.”
The bar is now set very high for future Plant City cheer teams.
“I feel like every single year the team gets better and better,” senior Payton Tucker said. “It’s going to be really cool to watch that after we leave.”
