February 10, 2025
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Wilmington cheer takes third at state

Wildcats' fourth top-three finish in past decade

By Mason Schweizer
Members of the Wilmington cheerleading team celebrate their third-place finish in the small team division of the IHSA State Finals on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025 at Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington.

Members of the Wilmington cheerleading team celebrate their third-place finish in the small team division of the IHSA State Finals on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025 at Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington. (Sandy Bressner)

The Wilmington competitive cheer team made it a sweet 16 trips to the IHSA State Finals in a row when the Wildcats competed in the small school division once again over the weekend, a weekend that was made even sweeter when the Wildcats returned to Wilmington Saturday night with a new trophy to display.

The Wildcats earned a third-place finish in the small school division at Grossnger Motors Arena in Bloomington Saturday. Their routine earned a score of 91.08, which was only bested by state champion Columbia (93.92) and runner-up Richmond Burton (92.30).

"The team continually put in effort to improve and grow from competition to competition," head coach Jeanine Bejlovec said. “Their final performance was absolutely the best. We are honored to be among the top three teams in the state of Illinois.”

Bejlovec, the head coach behind each of the Wildcats' 16 straight state trips and 17 overall, has now led Wilmington to four top-three finishes. The Wildcats won state titles in 2016 and 2019 and finished second in 2021.

After winning its sectional two weekends ago, the Bradley-Bourbonnais cheer team competed in the preliminary round of the co-ed division Friday. The Boilermakers scored an 86.53, 19th overall.