Luka Ogden says she did not really plan to continue flying through the air in cheer stunts when she entered George Fox University to major in accounting in the fall of 2023.
Ogden had grown up in the Sweet Home competitive cheer program, in which she was a member of three high school state runner-up cheer teams and won two individual state titles. With her slight build, she was a “flyer” for the Huskies, the team member who is often elevated or thrown into the air during pyramid and other stunts.
But when George Fox founded a competitive stunt program two years ago, and one of its recruits couldn’t compete, Ogden was contacted by the coach: Would she consider participating?
“I thought I was done with cheer,” the sophomore said. “I did not intend to stunt when I went to George Fox.”
She certainly didn’t expect to be part of a national championship team, which is what the Bruins became after winning the NCAA Division III nationals held April 24-27 in Nashville, Tenn. George Fox beat Muskingum (Ohio) 9-7 to win the title.
According to stuntthesport.org website, stunt, an offshoot of competitive cheer, is “one of the fastest growing female sports in the country” with an increasing number of colleges joining its ranks.
Stunt focuses on the technical and athletic components of cheer, and involves “games” that usually are comprised of four 15-minute quarters consisting of eight “mini-routines” that involve partner stunts, pyramids and basket tosses, group jumps and tumbling, and in the final period, a team routine.
“It’s a mixture of cheer, gymnastics and acrobatics,” Ogden said.
A big difference, she added, is that high school competitive cheer routines are 2½ minutes in long, whereas stunt games last 45 minutes to an hour.
Those elements are combined in short routines that both teams must perform head-to-head on the floor at the same time in front of judges. The team that executes the skills best wins the round and the point.
“It’s really different, skill-wise,” Ogden said. “In cheer, you’re doing a routine that is only your routine. It’s a lot more objective. It doesn’t matter if you take little tiny steps.
“In stunt, you’re head-to-head with the other team at the same time. That took a lot to adjust to. I had to learn to stick things, not to take any extra steps, anything that’s not synchronized.”
“It’s a little different than competitive cheer,” said Amber Rosa, who coached Ogden in high school at Sweet Home, noting that the sport has emerged in the last 10 years. “It’s been kind of traveling through the East Cast quicker, but it’s making its way this way. It’s being considered as an emerging sport by OSAA, like boys volleyball and girls flag football.”
Ogden said there are certainly enough similarities that she was able to jump in two years ago and help the fledgling George Fox team. In fact, as a freshman she was named a College Stunt Coaches Association First Team All-American as the Bruins placed third at the national championships.
Ogden said she was grateful for the preparation she got from Sweet Home Rosa and her sister-in-law Kayla Rosa, and coaches Lindsey Martin and Dar Hummer, “because the time I spent in their program really prepared me for college stunt.”
The CSCA has 60-plus participating institutions, according to its website.
“Last year was our first year as a program,” Ogden said, adding that George Fox is currently the only stunt program in the Pacific Northwest. “We had no idea what we were getting into. I thought I was joining a cheer team, honestly. Some (team members) were recruited as dancers. We didn’t know. We were actually shocked and thrilled that we placed at nationals.”
This year, she said, their goal was to make it to the final.
The national championships this year included five Division III teams, four from Division I and 11 from Division II.
The Bruins faced Muskingum twice on the final day of the competition.
They had faced once before, at a tournament hosted by George Fox March 14-15, which was the first held in the Pacific Northwest. The Bruins won that one 16-7.
George Fox had a 2-1 lead after the first quarter of the final, and then scored three points in the (second pyramids and tosses) and adding a 3-1 advantage in the third (tumbling) to take an 8-2 lead into the final period.
Though the Muskies tried to fight back, picking up five points in the period, solid execution and a well-placed challenge from the Bruins’ coaching on the second routine of the quarter kept Fox well ahead. A final point in the third routine ended the game with a 12-7 George Fox victory.
As they did all season, coaches Reba McLennan, Beth Sanchez, and the entire Bruin staff turned to strategy at the end of the game to ensure the win. Fox called routine seven, a routine they knew Muskinghum did not have.
Ogden said the Bruins started practicing their cheer skills during fall semester, performing those at football games.
“After Christmas break we went heavy on stunts,” she said. Typically, they practice nine hours a week.
They started competing in February, traveling to tournaments hosted by Dallas Baptist (Texas) and Hope International (Southern California), then hosting their own competition, which included Hoppe, Muskingum, St. Mary’s (Indiana), Trevecca Nazarene (Tenn.), and Sonoma State (Calif.).
“Since we’re really separated from other teams, when we go to tournaments we compete against Division I, Division II, and NAIA teams,” Ogden said. “We don’t always win. It was a little slower in the beginning (of the season) because of that. At nationals, we were only going against D III teams and we won all our games, which was really amazing.”
Ogden said she’s heard “rumors” that other colleges in the Northwest are considering adding the sport, “which is really awesome.”
Perhaps not surprisingly, she said she plans to continue.
“I do miss traditional cheer a lot, but I also really enjoy this sport. I like the sport because I get a lot of second and third and fourth chances because the games are so long, because it’s so many little routines over a long period of time.”
“Honestly, I would love to come back to Sweet Home and coach.”
– George Fox writer Antonio Arredondo contributed to this story