The cheer squad went to regionals on Nov. 11 in Kansas City and won first place in the Large Varsity Non Tumbling category.
The squad had to perform their fight song cheer, as well as complete an offense or defense chant yelled out by the judges that replicated a game chant, a band chant, and included signs in certain chants. Head coach Michelle Bunyard said the style they competed felt more like what the girls were trained to do on the sidelines.
“We chose to do game day because it’s more in line with what we do on a daily basis as far as sideline and crowd involvement and we were happy it was a style to compete,” Bunyard said.
Incorporating signs with their routine for competition also allowed for the squad to start bringing those signs to games and encourage crowd involvement. Varsity assistant coach Lauren Lamar says it allowed for the team to beocme comfortable with the style.
“Gameday falls in the category of sideline cheer and forces us to bring more signs and flags to games and work on our perfomance at the game,” Lamar said.
This was the first year that the team competed in gameday style and Lamar says they competed in a different style previously and don’t know what to expect when it comes to performing at Nationals.
“This our first time that we have competed in game day, and we have done performances before, but didn’t know what to expect with qualifying for nationals,” Lamar said.
The squad went against 4 other schools from Missouri for a spot at Nationals. Senior Alex Brown said the competition was tough but they were all ready for what was coming.
“I think that we all put in the effort that we needed to and we were all on the same page that it wasn’t a joke anymore and that we have to try in order to place and make it to Nationals,” Brown said.
Winning regionals allows for the team to go to nationals for the first time. It will be held in Orlando Florida’s Disney World in February, and consists of four days with a different performance and round of elimination each day. Junior Lilly Wilken says she unsure of how far they will make it but is excited for the expirience,
“I think we will do pretty good and get past the first day at least. We are new to this and I dont think we will win but I have faith in the team and in the end it will be a fun memory with my team,” Wilken said.