MOULTRIE — After battling three major injuries this season, the Colquitt County High competitive cheerleading squad turned in its best performance of the season at the best possible time.

The second-place finish at Saturday’s Region 1-AAAAA competition at Worth County High school sends Colquitt County to state competition for the first time in school history.

Colquitt will head to the state Sectionals on Friday in Columbus.

The finals are Saturday, also in Columbus

“Once we got through all the injuries, we were finally able to focus,” said an elated coach Patti Merritt.

“It was just our time to shine. We just kept improving and improving at each competition. Everything stuck. It was just a beautiful, clean routine.”

Houston County won the region championship. Lowndes was third and Tift County was fourth.

The top four teams qualified for Sectionals.

The Colquitt County team includes Brittany Bell, Sara Clayton, Whitney Wood, Lauren Stripling, Tabatha Radcliff, Laura Murphy, Kate Reeves, Ashton Eunice, Christin Smith, Bonnie O’Neal, Casey Kilgore, Anna Jursik, Anna Hall, Callie Land, Jana Duncan and Ashley Thomas. Missoma Kundi is the alternate.

Merritt said Houston County was expected to win the region.

“They are amazing,” Merritt said of Houston County. “They have their own cheerleading gym.

“So getting second was like getting first for us.”

Merritt said the team performed well in a warmup competition in Sylvester last week and the confidence carried over to the region competition.

“We’ve had one bad break after another,” Merritt said. “But it all came together. This was the first competition where all the stunts stuck.

“I can’t praise them enough. And they are really psyched about Friday.”