GOUDARZI & YOUNG’S ETBLITZ TEAM OF THE WEEK… | Tatum Cheer!

The University Interscholastic League welcomed hundreds of cheer programs from around the state to the Fort Worth Convention Center last weekend to compete for the state’s Spirit Championship in each classification, 1A through 6A, two divisions in each.

Of those hundreds, no team in the ETBlitz.com coverage area walked away with a state championship.

But Tatum High School finished seventh in 3A. And seventh in the whole state? Considering THAT competition?

That’s pretty darn good – it’s excellent, in fact. And excellent wins Tatum High Cheer the Goudarzi & Young, LLP / ETBlitz.com Team of the Week for the week of January 13-18!

By the way, Tatum has OWNED it lately. Not only is Tatum Cheer the Goudarzi & Young Team of the Week, but the week before, their Eagles’ classmates, Luke Sigler and Aundrea Bradley, were the Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Week, as well, and Tatum’s boys basketball team were the previous G&Y / ETB Team of the Week.

What can we say? We recognize excellence for what it is, no matter how many times someone, or a team, has won.

Now, we do a “team of the week,” not a team of the decade. If we did, they might very well win that, too.

Led by Tammy Holder and Kim Permenter, Tatum Cheer has been going to the Fort Worth Convention Center ever since the UIL began having the state spirit competition – better known as the state cheerleading championship, honestly – just over a decade ago.

Just a little history here.

In 2015-16, Tatum finished 12^th in Class 4A. The next year, they shot up the board and finished second.

They’d finish 13^th and 11^th, respectively, in 2017-18 and 2018-19 (3A), and that season, Holder was named TGCA Coach of the Year.

In 2019-20, it was a sixth-place finish in 3A, and third in 3A the following year. In 2022-23, not only did they finish second overall in 3A, but won best in category in crowd-leading.

Last year, in 2023-24, they were fourth overall in 3A.

This year, the classifications were split into divisions, by enrollment, just like football and the other sports: larger schools were classified 3A-Division I, for example, and smaller 3A schools in 3A-Division II.

Tatum once again made the cut into the finals, and once again had a top-10 finish, but fell just short of their mark of greatness.

For the record, in 2024-25, the Eagles had an overall score of 82.63, scoring a 39.87 in crowd leading, a 42.77 in band chant and fight song.

Tatum Cheer: Austyn Anthony, Jamyah Butler, Taliyah Dixon, Leah Fletcher, Lexie Ford, Taylan Fulmer, Kailey Garcia, Mikah Good, Corrine Herrera, Shaelynn Hicks, Elyana Hill, Preslee Marcott, Jordyn Murphy, Ryleigh Nicole, Libby Perry, Baylee Pruitt, Jasmin Salas, Brailey Smith, Aedyn Taczek, Winter Taylor, and Jacey Yoder.

There were so many great cheer programs there, really just from the ETBlitz coverage area alone: Tatum, White Oak, Kilgore, Gilmer, Arp, Troup, Sabine, Gladewater – all were there, and have been successful representing their schools.

Here at ETBlitz, we’re proud of them all, and we did privately, but we want to publicly thank all the cheer directors and sponsors for sending us photos and videos to allow the public to share the weekend with you guys. It was a blast.

Goudarzi & Young sponsors this award each week because Brent Goudarzi and Marty Young and their staff know what it’s like to work as a successful team, as well. They do it every day, at offices in both Gilmer and Longview, a part of the nation’s best law practice in the areas of 18-wheeler and car accidents; personal, property, oilfield and burn injuries; insurance claims; and cases involving wrongful death.

Their practice was established here in East Texas in 1997 by Brent Goudarzi, the No. 1 trial lawyer in America in 2023, the President of the National Trial Lawyer’s Association in 2024, and the firm itself holds the record for the top three settlements in the nation’s history involving 18-wheelers ($150 million, $140 million and $125 million).

Nothing beats a fantastic team. The staff at Goudarzi & Young have been proving that for decades.

To reach them, go to their website, Goudarzi & Young, L.L.P. – Tyler & Longview Personal Injury Lawyers; email them at goudarziyoung@goudarzi-young.com, or call them at (903) 843=2544 or toll-free at 800-256-5169.

And congratulations to Tatum Cheer for owning it once again in Fort Worth!