The Sharyland Pioneer high school cheer team won the 5A Division II state championship last weekend in Fort Worth.

The program adds another first-place finish to the trophy case, the second for the program in the last nine years. 

"It's such a beautiful feeling knowing that we put in all the hard work to do it and we finally got to where we wanted to be," Pioneer cheerleader Madison Cavazos said.

"Watching them, I felt like this could be the year and so yes as soon as they announced second place, my knees weakened and I fell to the floor," Pioneer head cheer coach Marissa Briseno added.

"I didn't know how to feel. This is my first time winning a competition and as a senior I couldn't thank God enough for allowing me and my teammates to be in that position and it was the best feeling ever," cheerleader Miranda Guerrero added.

The team competed against 78 other cheer teams in the 5A - Division II category at the meet.

The competition lasted two days and only 20 teams moved on to day 2 for the final round.

"There's only so many divisions and only so many teams win first place, and we go against so many good teams across the state of Texas, so it definitely is a hardcore competition," said cheerleader Lexi Perez.

Last year, the team placed third. That fueled the girls to practice harder and go for gold this time around. 

"When they came in third and they medaled, they were so excited," Coach Briseno said. "I said you need to build on that. You need to keep going, there's better, we can always be better and so that motivated them to keep going."

"We wanted to come back next year, and just get it done," Cavazos explained. "We wanted to get first and I know all of us had a drive to just go out there, win it, give the best of our abilities, leave everything we wanted on the mat."

From 78 teams down to one. Sharyland Pioneer continues to strive for greatness on the mat.