McAlester Pom Team Misses National Championship Due To Canceled Flight

The McAlester Pom Squad thought they'd be dancing at Disney World, but instead, they're stuck at home. Southwest Airlines canceled their flights out of Dallas due to bad weather.

After being stuck at the airport for 15 hours, the team was told the soonest they could fly out was Saturday.

That didn’t work because the competition in Orlando started Friday.

The 18 girls and their coaches spent a lot of time fundraising for Nationals; not to mention their countless hours of practices.

Several McAlester Pom parents are at Disney World wishing they could watch their girls compete.

“Her sister, her grandma and her dad all in Orlando and she’s in McAlester,” said Skylee Simpson, Sophomore.

Weather got in the way. “Liked winter my whole life but now I don’t,” said Skylee.

Skylee said her heart hurts most for the seniors.

“It’s so fun. You see other teams there and knowing that would’ve been your last time and now you can’t even go, I couldn’t imagine,” said Skylee. "We practice constantly just for this one competition."

"I’m sure we will get the money back, but the missed opportunity is not replaceable,” said Tammy Simpson, Pom Mom.

The team saw our story about how the same airline re-routed a plane to take Jenks Pom directly to Orlando for the competition.

"We were so happy and so pumped for those girls that they were able to get there. It was just a little discouraging we did not have a similar effort made to give us some other options,” said Tammy.

Parents were ready to drive to any airport.

“They were saying we would have to rebook out of Dallas,” said Tammy.

Skylee's mom said the squad is still cheering on other teams and showing true sportsmanship.

“A lot of the girls have reached out to us and told us that they were gonna perform for us,” said Skylee.

“In everything there’s a life lesson. I mean disappointments are a part of life and I’m really, really proud of these girls for their attitude,” said Tammy.

The team was supposed to perform for people in town before heading to Nationals. They hope to still do that in the coming days.