The Sweet Home High School cheerleaders placed second in the state 4A/5A large division Saturday at Memorial Coliseum in Portland.
Pleasant Hill, which tied with Sweet Home last year, edged out the Huskies for first place. The Huskies placed first in 2007 and third in 2006.
“It was definitely confusing to me,” Coach Crystal Kimball said. “I felt like our routine was more entertaining.”
That isn’t to take anything away from Pleasant Hill, which has a good team and a good coach, she said. The Huskies were nearly flawless and did everything she could possibly ask of them during their performance.
Sweet Home team members were Larisa Cole, Mckenna Burnett, Tanesia McDowell, Conna Erickson, Ella Butler, Ava Dishaw, Lea Rasmussen, Leah Keesecker, Jessica Fagan, Leah Dauley, Stephanie Szuch, Abbie Rice, Emily Coonrod, Haley Voldbaek, Courtnee King, Kendra Whaley, Desiree McCormick, Jocelyn Plebuch, Kellie Pollock and Alyssa Logan, who stepped in last week to fill in for Jessica Smith, who was ill and was told by a doctor that she couldn’t compete, Kimball said.
-“I love my kids, and I’m just very proud of them,” Kimball said. “When you’ve been successful, there’s some pressure. I hope that people still appreciate that second place is still really awesome and Sweet Home cheerleaders are among the best in the state. I want them to feel proud of that second place.”
She said she told the girls that where sports are judged, there are some things that are not under their control, but they can control their performance.
“They did everything they could possibly do,” Kimball said. “I was extremely happy with the way they performed.”
One girl had pneumonia, and alternate Alyssa Logan had to step in at the last minute, Kimball said. “She stepped in and saved our bacon.”
She did a great job, Kimball said, and she was the only person that could step up.
The team also had three or four girls swap out since the season started, Kimball said. A couple of the recent ones were both tumblers.
That kind of thing can demoralize a team, or it can inspire them to “rise up to the occasion,” she said. In this case, “it just pushed them harder.”
Their energy level was at its peak, and it showed that they followed their coach’s advice: “If you have fun, it’s going to be great. You’re going to draw the crowd in.”
Comments afterward sup-ported that, she said.
“Sweet Home typically does things most people don’t,” she said, and that helps Sweet Home stand out. While other teams use the same basic music, Sweet Home used Elvis this year, offering a theme and something new to the floor.
The team had little to improve based on its performance at state, she said. She simplified a couple of parts in the routine a little to reflect missing athletes and avoid any chance of dropping a stunt, which leads to serious point deductions; but the routine remained mostly intact.
They had one problem on one stunt group, a little confusion, Kimball said; but it didn’t result in a fall or any problems and it didn’t cause any point reductions.
“Everything they set out to do, they did,” she said. “Everything that held us back was beyond our control. The girls just gave me everything. I couldn’t ask for a more dedicated group. As far as me as a coach, I feel like it was the best they absolutely could do.”
“And Pleasant Hill was awesome. I think they performed pretty darn stinking good, and they didn’t drop any stunts.”
Pleasant Hill is poised to drop to 3A the year after next, she said, and both schools were competing against 1,200-student 5A schools, like Willamette, Century and Crater.
Sweet Home fielded the top 1A/2A/3A/4A cheerleader this year with Abbie Rice, Kimball said. Each coach is allowed to choose up to five girls per team for the honor.
Rice finished first among all four divisions, earning her a $600 scholarship from the Oregon Cheerleading Coaches Association. She also performed at the state championships while team scores were tabulated.
As part of winning, Rice automatically joins the cheer team at the East-West Shrine football game. The first-place coach from the previous year also coaches the game, so she will be joined by Kimball and Pleasant Hill Coach Sarah Deveroux.