Cheerleading teams from Yorkton traveled to Regina on Feb. 4 to compete in their first cheerleading competition of the season, the Icebreaker Cheerleading Championships.
The Yorkton Regional High School Raiders team competed in the scholastic level one division and won first place.
Yorkton Gridders had two all-star teams compete. The youth level one team received first place in their division and the junior level one team received second place in their division.
“Our youth Gridders ran a flawless routine, claiming gold in their highly competitive division,” said Raiders coach Jennifer Ingham. “Our junior Gridders are happy with their second place finish, but will be looking to strengthen their stunts in order to move to first place in their division. The girls placed second by only a few percent, so are excited to compete again.”
The Yorkton Regional High School also had a pom team compete. This is their first year as a team, so this was their first ever competition. They placed fifth in the scholastic pom small division. Pom is a dance routine characterized by sharp motions and arm movements holding pom-poms.
Pom coach Kaely Neibrandt said they are ecstatic with their fifth place finish in a division of eight teams. She said she is very proud of what the girls have achieved in such a short time.
Yorkton also had athletes compete in special categories. The individual category consists of one athlete who takes the floor alone to perform a routine of jumps, gymnastics and jumps alone. In the individual junior level three division, Kasey McCombs competed and came in second place. In the individual junior level one division, Keauna Heimbecker competed and placed second. And in the individual junior level one division, Alyssa Hall took the gold medal.
The duo division is made up of partners taking the floor and performing a routine of dance, jumps and gymnastics together. Alexa Wagner and Jersey Graves represented Yorkton in the duos, and took first place in the duo youth level one division.
The group stunt division is made up of singular stunt groups. Five athletes take the floor to perform a sequence of stunts for one minute and 30 seconds. The Yorkton stunt group was Briana Wosminity, Grace Bartel, Hayley Fayant-Stephens, Paxtyn Kruger and Marisa Desmarais. They competed in the senior all-star level three group stunt division, and took home the silver medal.
“Our level three group stunt performed exceptionally well. With a one minute and 30 second routine, they performed skills two levels above their team level,” said coach Jennifer Ingham. “They are looking to increase the difficulty of their routine in order to grab gold at their next competition.
All cheer teams ran extremely clean routines, something Yorkton is known for.
The athletes and coaches are looking forward to their next competition, which is in March in Regina.
Provincial championships will come after the March competition, and will be held in Weyburn this year.
