We want you, our readers, to help us pick the teams to beat across the state.
WARREN COUNTY -- Which Warren County cheer squad's got the highest kicks, coolest stunts and loudest cheers? We're relying on NJ.com readers to help us decide.
Andrea Owings, a cheerleading coach from Mount Ephraim in her 24th season, said a lot goes into making a team great.
"Coaches have to keep a lot of things in mind -- stunt and tumbling ability, routine organization, how it's all put together, clean choreography," she said. "It's got to be not sloppy, and there has to be a good energy."
Owings, who coaches for Triton High School in Runnemede, has also judged cheerleading competitions and said how the judges score depends on the size of the company running the event.
"Some companies have it broken down so there's a judge who just watches the tumbling, a judge who just watches the stunts, an overall routine judge and a few others," she said. "They literally just watch and count the number of tumblers, the number of passes, take note of the quality."
These judges also look at the difficulty and execution, overall impression and sometimes the creativity of the routine, as well.
How do these squads get prepped for the intense judging at competitions? Practice, practice, practice!
"My team practices three times a week for two and a half hours each day," Owings said, adding that from September to February, the squad strictly focuses on competition routines.
"Some days we just do the spots, some days we just run the stunts, break, run them again," she said. "Other days we run the entire thing a few times to make sure no one is going to crash and die with breaks in between."
While it may seem to be all smiles and flips, cheerleading season is months of hard work. But in the end, the best squads are competition-ready with stellar routines.
So, how does your squad stack up?
Show us your school spirit by dropping a note in our comments section to let us know who's got the best team and why. Tell us what makes that team stand out -- like the best dance routine, the most energetic cheers or the most creativity -- and we'll combine your votes with competition scores to choose the best squad in the county.
Nominations can be made starting now until TK DATE.
We'll then post the results for each county in a story about the best high school cheerleading teams from across the state.
For now, throw in your two cents. Which team is better than the rest?
Caitlyn Stulpin may be reached at cstulpin@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitstulpin. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Marisa Iati may be reached at miati@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @Marisa_Iati or on Facebook here. Find NJ.com on Facebook.