Four years ago – it all started with one lofty goal at the first practice for five Ellsworth High School cheerleading freshmen. Now, those five have almost refused to lose – capping off their four years of high school cheer with four state championship trophies in the foyer.
“It’s funny because at our first practice, we all set a goal to win states – and we did,” senior Ally Brown says, reflecting on the start to her EHS cheering career.
“It just came to life over the past four years," Whitney Jordan says – probably underselling the success just a bit. “I didn’t know the effort that we put in would actually lead us to going back to back to back …. to back.”
Lily Alley, Brown, Jordan, Molly Smith and Noelle Towne had all been cheerleading teammates long before that first day on the mat at Ellsworth High School – but that first season with the Eagles kicked off a four-year stretch of dominance that none of them saw coming when it began.
“It was about three weeks to a month in when we knew we could [win states],” Lily says about that freshman season. “As long as we worked together and did our jobs.”
“Coach (Fox) made it very known to us that it was obtainable, and that helped us be like, “Okay, we’ve got this,’” says Towne.
“As far as I’ve been on the team, we’ve only lost two competitions,” Jordan says.
Heading into that 2022-23 season, the Eagles had been competitive - but had been looking up at the gold medalists for quite some time.
“That was the first time Ellsworth cheering had ever won a state championship,” Smith says. “I think that being freshmen, not losing our first competition and not losing that whole time, it was kind of a shock to us. We didn’t know how much it meant – we knew the significance of winning a state title, but we didn’t know exactly how much it meant until we saw our seniors’ reactions.”
“We just knew, watching them win their senior year that we weren’t going to let them down,” Jordan says. “So, we continued to work.”
And work they did – those five inspired freshmen never looked back, because how could you?
“We all felt what it felt like to win,” Alley says.
“After you win once, it just pushes you to do it over and over and over again,” Brown says.
“Then once you're defending two, three, four state titles at the time, you didn't want to lose,” Smith says. “There was no way.”
Collectively these five have helped the Eagles put three more trophies in the case following their first ever. And this year was perhaps the most dominant – Ellsworth crushed the competition, winning the state championship competition by over 12 points.
“That’s like a 70-point win in basketball.”
Ellsworth scored an impressive 89.60 to secure the regional championship this year, the best score the girls have ever received. But being heads-and-shoulders above their competition only created more motivation. Even with only two losses in their entire high school careers – they remained focused, and ready for the next competitor who would come and try to take their spot.
“We lost at PVC’s twice (freshman and junior year), and that was the most devastating competition ever,” Towne says. “We always use that as our reminder - reminder to work harder and go for more.”
“We realized we didn’t want to mess up – if we did and let one thing slip, then everything we’ve worked for the past four years could,” Alley says.
That constant motivation and attention to detail starts at the top with co-coaches Melanie Fox and Kat Archer.
“Coach shows us the score sheets, she talks about it all the time,” Towne says. “We know how close cheering is and how one little mistake can risk your whole title. I think it just really helps us support the underclassmen who are coming in for the first time who haven’t been coached hard. I think of it as team bonding - we’ve all been through it together.”
“It really creates the athletes because it gives the expectation of what they want us to be and how we need to be better – and it's really just not an option to not get better,” Jordan says. "So you would see over the course of my freshman year to my senior year, the scores were ultimately higher each year and then each competition each year they got higher because we knew there was something that we needed to fix so we fixed it or there's something we need to change so we changed it and it just ultimately just made everything look better and be better.”
And that work ethic is something that this year’s class took the responsibility to instill in every teammate they’re passing the torch to.
“We remind [underclassmen] that it’s a privilege and that it’s not handed to us, and we don’t get cocky,” Smith says. “There’s always a chance that one thing slips up and that we don’t have it in the bag - so every practice needs to be wanting more.”
Those bonds started about a decade ago for some of these seniors who have shared a mat, and sometimes a stunt group, since grade school.
“Obviously that brings you closer because you have to trust the people that are under you, the people you’re holding - everything,” Brown says.
“Some of my best friends have been on our cheer teams,” Alley says.
“It comes to show at states when it’s our last competition, just how bonded we are - everyone was crying, saying they were going to miss us and how it won’t be the same,” Towne says.
Even after four years of dominance, the rush of the final announcement never lost its luster. In that last huddle at the state tournament, with heads down and hearts racing, the familiar sound of "Ellsworth Eagles" signaled the completion of a perfect high school run. For this group, cheerleading was never just a seasonal sport—it was a decade-long bond that redefined Ellsworth's cheerleading legacy.
“It’s really sad to look back and now realize that it’s over and that I won’t be able to do it again,” Jordan reflected on her final moments as an Eagle. “But cheer has always been my life, and I just don’t think it’s going to end now.”
And for these seniors – they hang up the Eagles uniforms knowing they walked into a gym that had never seen a state championship banner, and will walk out not knowing a season that ended without one.