A pair of local cheerleading teams – the Youth Level One All-Star team and the YRHS Raiders cheer team – have found a plethora of success throughout the 2016 cheer season, constantly finding themselves on the podium as well as taking several Grand Champion Awards in 2016.
The youth team, comprised of girls aged seven to 11, competed at three competitions throughout the season, opening the year up with a second place finish at the Warman Cheer Classic with a combined two day score of 90.72% (90.53% Day One, 91.00% Day Two).
They then made their way to the Alberta Cheerleading Association Championships at the West Edmonton Mall where they took first overall, besting 10 other teams for the gold medal in the Youth One category with a score of 89.78% - a full 2% higher than their nearest competitors. “That win in Edmonton was a really big win for them, because it was the biggest competition they competed in all season,” said Cheer coach Jennifer Ingham. “For some of them it was only their second time performing and they just ran a perfect routine. They nailed their timing, their stunts were solid and they just really performed for the crowd.
“We really weren’t expecting it; we were hoping for a second or a third place finish, so it was really surprising to get that first place finish and really rewarding for them.”
The Youth team then competed at the 2016 Saskatchewan Provincial championship where the finished third overall with a Provincial bronze medal to cap off a strong Youth season.
On the Raiders’ side of things, they too kicked off their season in Warman. After Day One at the Cheer Classic the Raiders found themselves in second place behind the Campbell Tartan Cheer Team with a score of 90.90%, but an impressive 93.99% score on Day Two vaulted the Raiders into first place with a combined Two Day total of 92.13% to give them first place and the Grand Champion Award in the Senior Level Two category.
The second tournament of the season for the Raiders also took them to Edmonton and the ACA Championships in Edmonton. A difference of rules between the Saskatchewan and Alberta cheer associations resulted in the Raiders moving from the high school competition to the All-Star Senior Level Two competition, where they finished fourth overall, narrowly missing the podium with a score of 87.25%, .05% back of the third place Perfect Storm Typhoons. “We knew going into it that the competition would be a little bit stiffer and we didn’t have the same number of tumblers that some of the other teams did, so we ended up finishing fourth out of seven,” said Ingham on the YRHS Raiders’ experience in Edmonton. “It was still a really good performance and we’re really proud of what they did, but it just wasn’t enough to place in Edmonton.”
The Raiders then competed at the University of Regina Cheer Competition on March 12 where they regained their early season form, finishing over 1% better than their nearest rival with a first place 93.54% score. The Raiders promptly followed their Regina success up with their second consecutive Provincial gold medal and second Grand Champion Award of the season to end their 2016 campaign on a high. “It’s been a very successful year for them and they’re a tremendous group of athletes,” stated Ingham, continuing, “They’re very strong, very solid, very skilled and very dedicated and I’m very proud of them for what they did this year.”
Ingham went on to say that this year’s team was one of the hardest working teams she has coached, and that the dedication and commitment of the girls was second to none. “The girls trained in fitness and gymnastics this year so they’ve been really pushing through in those practices to perfect their skills so that they were ready for competition.
“Hardly anyone missed any practices, and they all worked so hard which is impressive because it’s not easy; cheerleading is very physically demanding as it requires a lot of physical endurance and physical strength, core strength and flexibility, and all the girls on the team did so well this year.”
Four athletes that particularly impressed Ingham this season were her senior leaders Caelan Dombroski, Danielle Van Parys, Marisa Desmarais and Lacey Senchuk. “Those girls were wonderful this year. They kept the team close and helped the younger athletes with anything they needed and they’ll definitely be missed next season,” offered Ingham, adding that some of them hope to continue with their cheer careers after high school. “Some of them are planning on going on to the University of Saskatchewan and University of Regina and some are planning to try out for the Roughrider Cheerleading team and I think any team that gets them from here are going to be really lucky to have them because we have four phenomenal athletes coming out of our program.”
