Priming for the state tournament this weekend, the Oak Harbor High School cheer team blitzed the competition at Sammamish’s Skyline High School Saturday, Jan. 19.

The Wildcats earned a score of 250, a 57.5-point improvement from the previous competition, to defeat a handful of schools, including North Thurston, Arlington and Steilacoom.

Coach Robin Gohn said she wasn’t sure if the result was from the lucky penny she found boarding the bus or the “great teamwork, respect and unity, hard practices and  true Wildcat spirit” of her team.

She added, “I hardly know how to put yesterday’s competition performance in to words. The competition began at 7 p.m. and by 7:35 p.m. the ‘Cats knew they had done their absolute best. What a feeling.”

Oak Harbor, one of the Washington’s traditional cheer powers, heads to the state competition Saturday, Jan. 26, at Alaska Airline Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion at the University of Washington.

The Wildcats placed second in their division last winter. The previous five years they picked up three seconds and two fourths.