As she sat with her teammates listening to the public address announcer start to read off the reverse order of finishes for the top six teams in 6A at the Gameday Cheer Showcase, Mill Valley junior Sydney Epperson had a tough time trying to process what was happening.

“I felt like it went by a lot faster and it almost didn't feel real as they were announcing the names,” Epperson said.

Last year, when her Jaguars won their first state title in cheer, Epperson recalls the announcer at the Stormont Vail Events Center in Topeka preceding the reveal of each team name by stating the city where that school is located.

“It revealed a little bit, but this year I don’t believe they did that,” Epperson said, admitting she can’t actually be sure they did that in previous years, or that they 100% did not do that this year.

“I can’t remember exactly because I was probably so out of it at the time,” Epperson said, who described the wait as nerve wracking. “Waiting for our name to be called, my heart was on the floor.”

The only thing Epperson was truly concerned with was that with every reveal that was not Mill Valley meant her team still might have achieved its ultimate goal.

“Oh my gosh, we’re top five, we’re top four, we’re top three,” she said of her thoughts at the time. “Then it gets down to two. … And there starts to be a little bit of a break.”

After the first four teams were named in rapid succession, Epperson and her teammates started to wonder what was going on. The announcer informs everybody in the arena that the scores were really close for these last two squads.

In fact, Mill Valley and Blue Valley Northwest, which had previously won state titles in 2019 and 2021, actually finished the finals with a tied score at 96.2. The Jaguars had the higher average for the crowd leading portion of their routine while the Huskies led the band chant and fight song portions by the same margin.

With that tie in the finals, the final two spots were decided via tiebreaker, which gave the advantage to the team with higher cumulative score in the qualifying round.
 

Interestingly, Epperson said she already knew what decided the tiebreaker for this event after her and her teammates discussed this exact same scenario just a few weeks prior.

“Someone on my team just randomly brought it up and was like, ‘Wait, what happens if there’s a tie?’” she said. “Our coach explained to us how there were multiple levels and how they go to your prelim score and (then) your crowd leading score.

“It definitely helped us prepare beforehand, knowing that every single part of the whole day and how the whole routine matters.”

That conversation helped in the team’s preparation for their performance, but it did nothing to help prepare Epperson for the moment that the announcer told them her team had indeed reached the tiebreaker, which would decide the 6A state champion for cheer.

Her and her teammates actually didn’t know where they stood in regards to the qualifying scores, let alone the scores for the subsequent tiebreakers.

“The year before, we found out that we were in fifth- or sixth-place going into the finals,” she said. “So we had the mentality, ‘There’s nothing to lose, just have fun, put it all on the floor.’ Then this year, I thought it might be different, but our coaches kept our scores and our placement out of our heads.”

Epperson said her and her teammates did not have a clue what they scored or where they placed in the qualifying round. The coaches left the performers in the dark going into the trophy ceremony as well.

If Mill Valley cheer team head coach Jennifer Ivey had told them those early results, Epperson and her teammates might have faced a bit of a spoiler when the announcer built up suspense by announcing the need for a tiebreaker.

They would have known that in the qualifying round, the Jaguars earned a score of 200.200. Blue Valley Northwest was the only other team to crack 200 … but the Huskies landed behind Mill Valley by the smallest of margins with their 200.050 score.

Mill Valley had clinched its second straight state title by the slimmest of margins.
 

“I seriously have never been happier in my life,” she said. “We just went back-to-back after not even believing that we could even win a state championship. It was just the most amazing feeling, I'm still on cloud nine.”

One of the reasons that Mill Valley did not think they could win a state championship this year is because of how much roster turnover the Jaguars faced from the team’s surprise victory last season.

This year’s team had 18 newcomers, including 12 freshmen, across the 24-member roster. Entering the year, Epperson was part of one of the stunt groups which featured a majority of the experienced returners on the team.

But just a few weeks before the Gameday Cheer Showcase, the Jaguars’ coaching staff asked Epperson to make a big change to help give the team a chance to score higher at state, as well as other events down the road.

“We wanted to add some harder skills, so we needed more experienced groups,” she said. “They moved me over to the other one and I’m like, ‘Oh boy. Okay, here it goes.’”
 

Epperson had built a solid trust and confidence with her previous stunt group, practicing their routine since August. Now she had just two weeks to try to replicate that with less experienced performers heading into one of their biggest competitions of the year.

“It was definitely nerve wracking, at first,” she said.

But with her having lots of previous experience as a flyer, Ivey and the rest of the coaching staff felt confident that Epperson had what it would take to help get this other stunt group ready for the team’s state performance.

“I think that my coaches chose me to do it because they know that I have dealt with that pressure,” she said, before adding that there also were not a lot of other “veterans” on the team.

Epperson quickly took to this new leadership role by helping the younger teammates, who she would entrust as her bases for the stunt routine, with various tips on things like grips and explanations on how to perform different skills, even ones that she had not performed herself. 
 

“I was glad that they chose me to be in that situation because I felt that I would be able to do it,” she said. “But it did add some stress to the situation.”

Epperson’s concerns grew when the team competed in another showcase just a few days before state and their stunt group’s routine did not quite go as planned.

“We did have a fall,” she said. “That was kind of living in the back of my mind. I don’t want to screw this up for my team. I don’t want to be the reason that my team doesn’t succeed, on just one little skill out of the whole routine.”

In the face of that pressure, Epperson just reminded herself the key to a successful routine is maintaining trust in her stunt group teammates, her coaches and everyone on the floor.

“Trust that at the end of the day, everyone’s going to do their job and everything’s going to be okay,” she said.

Some of that confidence came from her extensive experience in cheer. Epperson originally took a dance class when she was 3 years old, but it quickly became clear her interests matched up better with a slightly different activity.

“I specifically remember my favorite part about it was when we would get the mats out and do cartwheels,” she said. 

Her parents noticed, deciding that maybe a tumbling class was a better choice. Around that time, the Eppersons had a conversation with one of Epperson’s aunts, who live in Topeka with two daughters involved in cheer.

“‘You guys are lucky you got KC Cheer out by you,’” Epperson recalls her aunt telling her and her parents at the time. “We were like, ‘What’s that?’ We had never heard of it.”

Her parents decided to give that recommendation a try, enrolling Epperson in a few classes there.

“As soon as I was there, I just fell in love with the sport,” she said.

Shortly thereafter, Epperson decided to try out for their All-Star Elite competitive cheer team. She stuck with that for nearly a decade before she transitioned away from those competitions as she replaced it with high school cheer.
 

“I think the reason I've stuck with the sport specifically throughout the years, I fell in love with learning how to do the new skills and just always looking up to the girls on the teams above me,” Epperson said, which included seeing her cousins compete in cheer for Washburn Rural graduated before the youngest of the two graduated a few years ago. “Also the atmosphere around the gym and the people I met along the way were definitely such a strong part of my career and they made the sport so enjoyable.”

When she found herself with more free time after stepping away from her club cheer team, Epperson ended up finding another sport that has helped found the confidence under pressure that she displayed at the Gameday Cheer Showcase.

“All-Star cheer took up such a big chunk of my time in my childhood,” she said. “I was like, ‘What am I going to do with all this free time?’”

Shortly before that, the Covid-19 pandemic had provided a window where Epperson got a glimpse into what her future might look like with all this newly acquired free time.

Although she did not have many choices in available hobbies to fill her days during the shutdown, there was one outdoor activity which rebounded quicker than others. Luckily, it was one her parents already enjoyed, giving her a seamless introduction.

That activity was golf.

“My parents were into golf, for sure,” she said. “Then throughout Covid and all of that, that was like the only thing that was open. I would go with them every once in a while and hit a shot here and there.”

When she started looking for activities to fill that space left empty by her exit from club cheer, those experiences popped into her mind.

“‘What if I do golf?’” Epperson recalled thinking at the time. “I ended up doing PGA Junior League over the summer to kind of prepare and honestly really fell in love with the sport.”
 

Epperson decided to try out for the Mill Valley’s golf team as a freshman. 

“It's so funny to look back on because I feel like I had not one clue or expectation going into it all,” she said.

Epperson said she knew that the team had not generally had big enough turnout numbers to make cuts in past years, so she liked her odds of making the squad.

But she was pleasantly surprised when she made the varsity squad that first year. Although she did not make it to state, Epperson’s skills on the course improved over the next year. As a sophomore, she shot a 95 at regionals to finish in 23rd and advance to the 6A state tournament. There, Epperson shot a 90 on Day 1 and followed up with a 104 to finish tied for 50th with a two-day 194.

This year, Epperson repeated her 95 at regionals, although that mark allowed her tie for 13th. She also had the fourth score for Mill Valley’s team total of 346, which earned the Jaguars the regional team title.

“This season specifically, I really found my joy and my passion for the sport and care about it so deeply.”

At state, the team would be the top team to miss the Day 2 cut. Epperson shot a 94, tying her with junior teammate Lola Dumler and Olathe West junior Savannah Cagle for 56th as all three missed the Day 2 cut by one stroke.

Although she was ultimately disappointed that she was not able to advance to the second day, Epperson actually left the course feeling great about the way she handled the tough circumstances surrounding that opening day of the 6A state tournament.

“Going back, all I can do is laugh about it now,” she said. “In the morning, at the time, it was such a hard thing to deal with.”

After her fourth hole of the day, everybody got called because of a weather-delay. Seeing the heavy rainstorm roll through and hours go by without returning to the course, Epperson and her teammates started to think that might have been wrap on that round.
 

“My team had the mindset of there’s no way we are going back out to play that day, this round’s going to be wiped,” she said. “I did not have the best start that day, at all. So I was like, ‘Amazing. That would be awesome.’

“I’d have been so glad for that to happen.”

So Epperson was surprised when it was announced that they’d be going back out to the course, after the lightning delay ended but the rain still falling on the already wet course at the Carey Park Golf Course in Hutchinson.

“It’s still raining, the conditions are not fun and I’m like, ‘Well, we’ll see how this goes,’” she said.

Her troubles early in the day continued after the delay.

“My swing and my confidence weren’t in the best spot at the end of the season,” she said, although she made sure to spin that into as much of a positive as she could. “It was kind of just like, ‘Whatever happens, happens.’ 

“I played throughout the rest of that day, literally in the dark,” she said. “I wish that we would’ve gone in earlier because I couldn’t even see my ball.”

The round would eventually be suspended, with the golfers set to finish their remaining holes for the round early the next morning, before golfers who made the Day 2 cut quickly turning their attention to a slightly-delayed start to the second round a few hours later.

“Going back out the next day, I knew that I needed to do really well if I wanted a chance of making the cut,” she said. “I went back out the next morning, literally the crack of dawn. It was dark when we were on the range, just warmed up super calm.”
 

Epperson said she could not be more proud of the performance she had to close out that first round at state.

“I think I went bogey par, bogey, bogey, which for me that's very solid,” she said. “I was super happy with it and then coming out of my round, I was on top of the world. I seriously just did everything I could to pull it together at the end of my round and keep the numbers down.”

After spending most of the season in the mid-to-high 80s, including a season-low 83, Epperson felt as good as she possibly could about her 94 score.

“I was upset with the score,” she said. “But at the same time, coming back out the next day and finishing strong felt really good. I thought that there was a chance that I would make the cut after seeing the numbers coming in.”

But unlike her anxious wait for the Gameday scores to be revealed, this moment would not provide her the same release of nervousness, and definitely not the same joyous celebration.

“When I found out that I didn’t, I was obviously heartbroken,” she said. “I think I bawled for an hour or two, just disappointed in myself.

“But now looking back on it, I can’t pick out one part of my round that was a mistake … because there were so many throughout the whole entire, more-than-a-day-long round. I’ve definitely just taken it and be like, ‘Well, that happened.’”

“But it’s motivation for next year and I’ve already been working to get better and not have it happen next year.”

That golf experience likely already played a big role in Epperson’s ability to remain calm during the Gameday Cheer Showcase, especially with that event’s new schedule creating the opportunity for competitors to feel anxious with longer delays between performances.

In previous year’s, the qualifying round of the competition was broken up into three sections with fight song, band chant and crowd leading. Teams would perform each of those three routines separately, with set times for three different entrances and exits of the performance stage. 
 

At this year’s event, the qualifying round saw each team perform their full routine from start to finish. Mill Valley sat near the middle of the 6A start times. After their performance, the Jaguars had a long delay before they would return to floor for their finals performance.

As opposed to her up-and-down performance at golf, Epperson felt very confident in herself and the rest of the team’s performance of their routine in the qualifying round. And yet, the waiting for Epperson still caused her nervousness to grow throughout the evening.

“I felt like it would be less nerve wracking having them all together and not having to go out on the floor as many times, but it almost felt like more,” she said.

But her anxiety level dropped when the team was able to return to the floor in the finals. Epperson said the Jaguars were confident in completing its second full-out performance of the day, and fourth at competition that week, because of all the reps the team has performed in practice this season to prepare for this moment.

‘It's a really tiring routine,” she said. “You're on the floor for three minutes yelling as loud as you can, moving around. It's like cardio while screaming, basically. The way we prepared definitely made us feel a lot better about it because we did multiple full outs of prelims and finals (at) every single practice.”

It’s that preparation that makes Epperson much more calm and confident during the actual competition, and much less so with the waiting game that has become a big part of both her favorite athletic activities.

While her anxiety-filled waits for cheer were ultimately rewarded with a state championship celebration, Epperson is trying to not get down about her year-long wait before she gets the opportunity to try and prove herself at next year’s state golf tournament.

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Of course, her plan to do that involves making this wait look less like sitting inside checking to see what the weather will allow, or even sitting around in anticipation of your team’s next chance to take the stage. Her time between high school golf seasons will be filled with Epperson getting in the reps she knows she needs to feel confident about her performance on the greens next fall.

Epperson has fully committed to golf, including getting a swing coach to help her keep improving her skills during the offseason with lessons once a week. She also has the benefit of living on a golf course.

“It’s super convenient,” she said. “Even if I can't play like a whole round, I'll just go hop on the range or play a few holes, just whatever I can do in my free time to stay active with it.”

Her passion for golf has become so strong that Epperson actually sees golf as the sport she would like to continue playing at the college level.

As a junior, she hasn’t gotten too deep in the college search just yet, but Epperson views golf as a likely factor in that process.

“I’m just now starting to look into everything,” she said, adding that she just created an online profile on a golf recruiting site last week. “But I honestly have the mindset going into it of just whatever is meant to be will happen.”

Epperson sees herself most likely choosing a school in the Midwest, with her parent’s alma mater of the University of Kansas as one that’s really high on her list. 

But she also knows how little things, as well as big interests, can quickly open up new paths that would not have been obvious before exploring all the options available.

In fact, her sister is proof of that. Madeline Epperson, who graduated from Mill Valley in May, ended up attending Kansas State this fall, despite growing up in a Rock Chalk chanting household.

“Her decision was super easy because they offered her specific major study course only at K-State and not at KU,” she said. 

And the major?

“She’s doing Fashion Studies,” she said. “Whenever we found that out, we were like, ‘Wow, seriously.’ But they have a great program at K-State. I think my sister went and toured and found out about it. She saw everything with it and was like, ‘Yep, that’s exactly what I want to do.”

Epperson does not yet have that clear factor that could help her narrow down her college choices. Even with the golf, it’s not a pursuit she’s ready to let lead her decision making in that regard.

“But it’s definitely a goal of mine and I want to keep working hard and improving my swing and my play to be able to do that.”