After a long season of preparation, the Baker University cheerleading squad cheered its way to second place at the Heart of America Athletic Conference competition on Feb. 10 at Avila University, while the dance team placed fourth.
Head coach Cathy Ritter said the cheerleading team began practicing months in advance and had Michael Whitney from Kansas City Cheer and Dance come to its practices to teach the team its routine for the competition.
“This year at games, new rules made it so we weren’t allowed to do basket tosses or pyramids without a mat,” Ritter said. “This made it so the only time we could practice these were during actual practice time. Our three flyers were dancers who had never done baskets before, but they spent hours working on them.”
Ritter said after the team executed its performance, judges’ critiques suggested the team add more tumbling in future competition routines.
“Our routine was pretty tough,” Ritter said. “When you go to competition, it’s better to do something clean and do it right rather than something hard and not do it right.”
Cheerleading captain Allyssa King said the women were nervous knowing they’d prepared all season for the competition.
“If you think about it, we work for how many months and go out and compete a two-minute routine,” King said. “It’s either hit or miss – we only get to perform that one time. If they see us mess up, then they think we’re not working hard, when in reality, we are.”
King said the women weren’t concerned with placing high, but rather doing their best and proving to the Baker athletic program how good they are.
“I think this year we really just hoped to do well,” King said. “We’re still growing; we’ve had our new coach for three years now. We’ve had a lot of girls get hurt, and we were just really hoping to go out there and do well. We really wanted to prove that we were dedicated to the cheerleading program. Our goal is to represent Baker and its athletics.”
Ritter said she was proud of both squads for how hard they worked throughout the season.
“They worked so hard,” Ritter said. “This was a hard year for both with the probation, and I’m just proud of them for showing the school what we can do.”
Junior Lindsay Friesen said even with the pressure of the performing the dance just right, the team practiced hard leading up to competition.
“I thought the new girls stepped up, and we pulled together as a whole team to prepare for it,” Friesen said.
Although the dance team placed fourth out of eight, Ritter said she thought it should have placed higher.
“Everybody told us we got robbed,” Ritter said. “The girls did a really good job, and in my head I thought they were going to place second or third. They did a very good performance, and this group is very talented. I’m proud of them for placing fourth, but I was disappointed for them because I was wanting them to get what they deserved.”
Friesen said one judge didn’t like the way the team danced.
“You can’t please all the judges, and one of the judges didn’t really like us so that brought our score down,” Friesen said.
Next year’s HAAC competition will be held at Baker, as each year rotates alphabetically through the conference schools.the team executed its performance, judges’ critiques suggested the team add more tumbling in future competition routines.
“Our routine was pretty tough,” Ritter said. “When you go to competition, it’s better to do something clean and do it right rather than something hard and not do it right.”
Cheerleading captain Allyssa King said the women were nervous knowing they’d prepared all season for the competition.
“If you think about it, we work for how many months and go out and compete a two-minute routine,” King said. “It’s either hit or miss – we only get to perform that one time. If they see us mess up, then they think we’re not working hard, when in reality, we are.”
King said the women weren’t concerned with placing high, but rather doing their best and proving to the Baker athletic program how good they are.
“I think this year we really just hoped to do well,” King said. “We’re still growing; we’ve had our new coach for three years now. We’ve had a lot of girls get hurt, and we were just really hoping to go out there and do well. We really wanted to prove that we were dedicated to the cheerleading program. Our goal is to represent Baker and its athletics.”
Ritter said she was proud of both squads for how hard they worked throughout the season.
“They worked so hard,” Ritter said. “This was a hard year for both with the probation, and I’m just proud of them for showing the school what we can do.”
Junior Lindsay Friesen said even with the pressure of performing the dance just right, the team practiced hard leading up to competition.
“I thought the new girls stepped up, and we pulled together as a whole team to prepare for it,” Friesen said.
Although the dance team placed fourth out of eight, Ritter said she thought it should have placed higher.
“Everybody told us we got robbed,” Ritter said. “The girls did a really good job, and in my head I thought they were going to place second or third. They did a very good performance, and this group is very talented. I’m proud of them for placing fourth, but I was disappointed for them because I was wanting them to get what they deserved.”
Friesen said one judge didn’t like the way the team danced.
“You can’t please all the judges, and one of the judges didn’t really like us so that brought our score down,” Friesen said.
Next year’s HAAC competition will be held at Baker, as each year rotates alphabetically through the conference schools.