The annual state spiritline championships, a highly-competitive, one-day event for Arizona’s best high school cheerleading teams, has a new home.

Grand Canyon University is opening its doors to Arizona’s best small and big school all-girl and co-ed spiritlines, dedicated groups that back their campus’ teams throughout the school year. The Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum used to host the state competition before moving to Prescott, but the cheer is returning to the Valley on Saturday, this time at GCU. 

The spiritline championships run for about 12 hours, beginning at 8 a.m. with the co-ed teams. The all-girl session starts at about 4 p.m. 

Each team earned its spot in the finals after placing in the top-10 in either the San Tan or Agua Fria qualifiers.

For a list off when every team will compete on Saturday and for more important information for fans and teams, go here.  

“These are kids who promote and support all of their high school teams,” said David Hines, the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s assistant executive director. “Now it’s time to turn that around and come in and support them.”

The cheering won’t stop after Saturday.

Some teams will move on to nationals, but they will all continue making appearances at school events.

And practice, practice, practice.

Competitive cheer teams train about 2-3 three hours a day, six days a week during the school year, and their seasons last about 11 months. That commitment helps elevate the tension of state championship day for cheer teams. 

After spending so much time preparing for Saturday, how teams fare in the standings boils down to how they perform during their 60-120 second routines. It’s then left up to the judges’ scores to determine the winners. 

“The girls bond throughout the school year,” Mountain Ridge spiritline coach Mary Haddock said. “For the schools this is the one moment they’ve worked so hard for. They only get one shot to perform, and then it’s over. It can hit you hard, especially for the seniors.”

Mountain Ridge has avoided the sting of disappointment in recent big events. 

At the Agua Fria qualifier, it won the show cheer event and placed in the top-5 in all-girl stunt and pom.

Also, Haddock believes this is the first time that her program qualified to compete for the overall state title. Xavier is the two-time defending overall spiritline award winner in Division I and will compete for the overall crown again this year.

Haddock, a former cheerleader at Arizona State and Deer Valley High, took over Mountain Ridge last year and guided her program to a first place finish in show cheer at state and second place result in the same event at nationals. 

“Those girls are my whole world,” Haddock said. “They took me right in. It’s an amazing school to work for.”