Sweet Home cheerleader Luka Ogden became the first Husky ever to win two Oregon Cheerleading Coaches Association championships with her floor routine at the OCCA All-State Individual Finals at South Albany High School on Saturday, Oct. 5.
The senior scored a 204.7 out of 240 possible points awarded by judges, defending her title from last year.
Ogden saw improvement in herself from her junior season. “I think I did better than last year,” she said. “I did some of the same tumbling passes, but I think overall, performance-wise I did better.”
She said the key to her success was “hard work.”
“You can’t just half learn the material and hope that it goes well,” she explained. “You have to practice over and over and be confident in what you have.”
Ogden overcame some nerves to defend her championship. “I was pretty nervous because I had some last minute changes before the routine, but overall, after I performed, I was very happy with what I put out on the mat,” she said.
In her preparation leading up to the finals, she took a tumbling pass out of her routine that she thought wasn’t working well, and replaced it with a tumbling pass she had done the previous year.
“I changed it and picked a running pass that I hadn’t done in a year to replace it,” she explained. “It was going better than what I was doing earlier, but it still kind of made me nervous.”
She noted that being at the actual competition helped her nail down the routine. “It wasn’t going so great in practices, but being in front of a crowd always makes it a lot easier, because there’s someone that you’re actually cheering for.”
Of the tumbling pass, she said “I had to practice it a bunch of times the last two days before I performed. I went to extra practices.
“My poor coach [Sweet Home Cheerleading Head Coach Amber Rosa] had to come and drive out to the high school and unroll mats with me just so I could practice them a couple times.”
Of Ogden’s performance, Rosa said, “She did great. Luka is a really strong all around cheerleader, so it would be hard to choose something that she’s exceptional at among the different categories, because she’s really exceptional at all of them.
“She easily has the highest jumps in the 4A division,” the coach continued.
“She did not compete the hardest passes we saw there as far as tumbling goes – there were kids that competed things that were harder than what she does – but what she does is so perfectly clean and beautiful, that it scores really well on execution, which is worth more points than difficulty.”
Ogden was given a $1,000 “talent scholarship” for finishing first.
Sophomore Kenadie King placed second for the Huskies, receiving a $750 talent scholarship. Fellow sophomore Peyton Lindsey finished fourth.
“They both tried out for allstate last year and did not make the allstate team, but they were freshmen and there were nerves involved,” Rosa said of her sophomore duo.
She said that King, who scored a 198, “had a really strong all around performance. She did well in every category. I would say that one of her strong suits is tumbling, which she did really well that day.”
She said that King is “a super good dancer and does a really good job with her facials,” and added that “She has sharp motions. She’s super fun to watch.”
Rosa said that Lindsey, who scored a 192.7, has “super high, beautiful jumps. In order to place, you have to be an all around cheerleader. You can’t be terrible at something and place.”
She added that “She has a really loud voice and is really enthusiastic and energetic. She’s super fun, and she makes you want to yell with her.”
Third place at the event went to Hannah Adams from The Dalles, who scored a 197.4.
Rosa said she is “super proud” of all three Huskies who placed.
Sweet Home had six cheerleaders compete in the preliminary round of the all-state finals, which involved submitting a video.
Along with Ogden, King and Lindsey, sophomore Gracie Vaughn advanced from the prelims to the finals, but did not place.