MORENCI — It was a rebuilding season for Morenci’s varsity competitive cheer team, but it was also a season of steady improvement for the squad.
“Each time we competed, our scores went up,” said coach Robyn Taylor.
With freshman Harley Ohlinger sidelined by a torn ACL, the total number of varsity competitors for the year was eight.
The graduating seniors are Elise Christle, Paige Cousino and Zoey Martinez. Taylor noted that this was the group that had their middle school years disrupted by COVID-19.
“Kudos to them for never giving up through all of that,” she said.
With no juniors on the team, they were joined by sophomores Ariana Bongiorno, Lillie Ford, Gabriella Rosales and Cassidy Stuck, and freshman Alivia Scivoletto.
After a late start — the Bulldogs skipped a planned meet at Onsted in order to have more time to integrate a few new signups into the team — they began their season with the new year, competing in a Jan. 4 meet at Madison, where they scored 495.62.
The Madison meet was followed by a competition on Jan. 11 at Addison, and then by the Hustle at the Hive, an annual invitational at Hillsdale, which took place on Feb. 1. After that, Morenci hosted Whiteford on Feb. 5 for the only home event of the season.
The season was capped off by the Tri-County Invitational at Hudson on Feb. 8, at which Martinez won honorable mention all-county.
“We improved almost 80 points over the course of the season,” Taylor said.
At the high school level, each competitive cheer meet consists of three rounds. In the first round, the team must demonstrate a certain number of motions and jumps. In addition to the technique, difficulty, togetherness and ease of their jumps, they are scored on their vocals, floor mobility, team coordination, the execution of all their moves, the general impression they convey, and the difficulty and variety of the routine. In the second round, called the compulsory round, the team must demonstrate one skill from each of three categories — flexibility, jumping, and tumbling — plus two more of their choice. The final round, called the open round, is where many of the athletes’ stunt skills come into play.
In general, the judges aren’t just looking at the execution of the moves, they’re also listening to the vocals — evaluating whether the competitors sound like a single, cohesive whole — and watching how smoothly the team works together.
The team is set to grow in size next year, with seven eighth-graders moving up to the high school level. Taylor, who also coaches the middle school team, said next year’s rising freshmen are a talented group.
“I’m super excited about next year,” she said. “The girls that are returning on the varsity are excited to have them as well.”