On Feb. 23, the cheer team performed at the Division 4 State Championship in Springfield, MO, where they received second place in Large Varsity Non-Tumbling Division 4A. The competition was held at Drury University with teams coming from all over Missouri. Two weeks before state, the team traveled to the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida for their UCA National Championships competition, placing 15th in the same division.
Varsity head coach Lauren Lamar said that there were a lot of steps in getting ready and practicing for State and Nationals.
“We hired a choreographer to help with making up our routine, and had to coordinate different competition practices. There’s also a lot of behind-the-scenes paperwork involved, and making sure that we have followed all of the guidelines and roles for each competition because they change,” Lamar said.
Senior Lillian Wilken was dressed as Freddie The Falcon for their state performance. Wilken said the purpose of the mascot was to help get the fans more engaged and excited.
“[The costume] really helped with the crowd involvement because I was pointing at people, doing Gangnam Style, kind of doing silly things instead of the normal cheer motions. I was really just trying to get them hype and having fun,” Wilken said.
Wilken said although being the mascot was fun, there were some things she had to worry about.
“I liked how I couldn’t really mess up because I was doing my own thing, so I wasn’t anxious about that, but I was very sweaty and hot in the costume. I also had to rely on my team to not run into me and to move things out of my way since I couldn’t see the best with the head on,” Wilken said.
The overall score of the Falcon’s routine improved by nearly 10 points from Nationals. In their competition at ESPN the cheer team scored 85.4, compared to state, scoring 95.0.
Senior captain Keegan Thuet said she is happy with how they placed and the way they gave it their all.
“I think our team did a really good job. I was really proud of us all because we worked really hard, and put on our best performance that we had done. I’m overall very proud of us,” Thuet said.
Junior Dana Spray said that competing for the first time at state was exciting, and even though it was a little scary, she had teammates to talk to.
“It was kind of scary, but it was overall a fun experience. I talked to [my friend] about it [and] I was more prepared to go on at state,” Spray said.
The Falcons placed behind the Webb City cheer team by .62 points.
Lamar said that she is proud of the team’s advancement from the previous year at state.
“I was very proud because it was only our second year doing this type of competition, and we improved from the year before, going from fourth to second in a year is a big deal, and we were so close to winning. It shows how hard we worked,” Lamar said.
