The Bradley-Bourbonnais cheerleading team found itself in the final round of the IHSA State Finals in Bloomington on Feb. 7 after being unable to escape the preliminary round in each of the previous three seasons.

Despite qualifying in sixth with a score of 94.98 in the preliminary round a day earlier, and punching their ticket to the final round for the co-ed division, the Boilermakers felt like they left a few points out on the floor.

They then came out for the finals and scored 96.04, tying Elk Grove Village for second place, just 0.64 points behind state champions Hersey.

The Boilermakers also tied the best finish in program history.

“I’ve never felt anything like that, and I was just beyond happy to share it with the team we have,” senior Kylee Leonard said. “I feel like we really earned it. It was kind of sad the other years to not make the finals, but to make the finals this year, and podium... it was just mind-blowing.”

Leonard and fellow seniors Sienna Gomez, Addison Haas, Irelyn Haley, Nathan Lindsay, Aiden Penrod and Felicity Weglarz got to end their careers by helping lead the Boilermakers to their best finish since taking second in 2009.

Juniors Evelyn Benoit, Fiona Hiser, Mia McAdams, Claire Morrall and Peytan Sandeno, and sophomores Ella Haas, Ari Hayes, Alyssa Pfeiffer, Madison Sinclair and Calvin Whitley rounded out the roster.

That 2009 season was the program’s second straight runner-up finish at state. They took third before that in 2007.

Amy Cook took over as head coach for the 2013-14 season and has since led the team to nine state appearances and now a second-place finish.

She said that she and the team had an inkling in the early going that this season could be a potential high point for the program.

“We scored the highest we’ve ever scored in the first competition (of the season),” she said. “We knew at that point this was going to be a special year because they started so strong. Every competition, we would just learn and grow and get better. We peaked at the right time and really saved our best for last.”

As for the Boilermakers’ final-round surge up to second place, their 1.06-point increase from their prelim score was the highest among the 10 finalists in the co-ed division.

Cook said the team did a great job upping their game after not quite nailing their routine in the prelims.

“On day one, we did have a couple bobbles, and we definitely had some shaky moments in our routine,” she said. “The team said, ‘We’re ready, we can do it.’ They went in fearless and fixed the things we were shaky on.

“...That’s what earned us that second place. We knew it was going to be tight, and we had to hit to be a contender at the top. There’s a lot of good teams in Illinois, but I think our team truly believed we were going to be there.”

Leonard said that the team simply felt at home on the floor at Bloomington’s Grossinger Motors Arena, allowing them to just go out and do what they do best.

“Normally, before we perform, we all get nervous,” she said. “But I feel like a lot of us, before we performed at state, we just felt confident. I’ve never been so fearless and confident to perform before.”

Leonard added that being able to end all three of her varsity seasons at state means a lot, and regardless of the result, it’s always a fun way to end the season.

This season’s result certainly made it a bit better.

“It can be chaotic sometimes, but I think it brings us really close together,” she said. “It’s a good team bonding moment and lets us know that we’ve worked for this. It brings us together more than we were before. We did what we needed to do.”