Cheer squad beats state’s top teams in first competition

Scott Swanson

Of The New Era

Sweet Home’s competition cheer leading team got off to a flying start Saturday, Jan. 7, at Clackamas, taking first place out of seven teams in its division

The Huskies came out ahead of last year’s state champion Newport, as well as the second, fourth and fifth-place teams from last year’s state finals.

“I think we made Sweet Home history,” said Coach Crystal Kimble. “I don’t think a cheerleading squad from Sweet Home has ever placed at a competition, let alone first place! I am very proud. They were awesome.”Cheer leading at Sweet Home High School is more than just pepping up the crowd this year.

Ten members of the current Husky cheer squad will spend four of the next five Saturdays working to impress judges at various competitions.

“Cheerleaders have had a bad stereotype,” said Kimble, in her second year with the squad. “These girls are athletes. They’re continually throwing each other up in the air and catching each other. They have to know what they’re doing.”

Holly Keesecker, one of the team captains, said that preparing for the competitions has been demanding.

“I think it’s fun, but it’s a lot of hard work,” said Keesecker, a senior. “We have regular (cheer) practice and then we have state practice. We’ve had daily doubles since the basketball season started.”

In fact, the team started practicing its routine last May, Kimball said and has had two practices a day for much of the school year. They also had a week-long cheer camp last summer with cheer squad members from Oregon State University.

Practice has been tricky, Kimball said, as the Huskies have had to find facilities wherever they can. They’ve worked out in both of the two gyms at the high school, in the wrestling room, in the Oak Heights multipurpose room, in the high school quad.

“We practice everywhere,” Kimball said, adding that some facilities, such as the quad, are not safe enough to be of much use. “Our stunts have outgrown the facilities we’re in.”

The wrestling room is the best facility because it has mats, but the cheer squad has to find time between high school, junior high and Mat Club team practices, she said.

With a demanding practice schedule, Kimball said she’s tried to keep things interesting. They have sleepovers at her house and eat out together.

“I try to keep it fun for them,” she said. “It’s such a long season.”

She said she also has made a deal with her team to dye her hair pink if they place third in the 3A small squad division at the state championships on Feb. 11. If they place second, she’s promised to dye her hair and pierce her nose. If they win it all, she said she’ll add a tattoo to that effect.

In competitions, continuing this Saturday at Springfield High School, the Huskies will be judged on a wide variety of criteria, including cheer leading technique, appearance, tumbling, jumps, dance routine, creativity, difficulty of routine, timing and repoire with the audience.

“That’s why cheer leading is so popular,” Kimball said. “It’s lots of different things. It’s not just dancing.”

Kimball, who competed in cheer competitions as a student at South Albany High School from 1989 to 1991 and then coached at the school before moving to Sweet Home.

Kimball also runs Club Cheer, a program for younger girls. She said she would like to do with the cheer leading program what coach Steve Thorpe and others have done with the wrestling program — build a system that would train girls from a young age to compete at the high school level.

Keesecker said the opportunity to compete adds to the fun of being a cheerleader.

“It’s more of a sport now,” she said. “It’s something we’re trying to go and compete and win in. It’s like we’re getting something out of it now.”

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