We felt we had strong athletes but we weren鈥檛 sure how we would compare to the other teams that were there.
鈥� Coach Jennifer Ingham
Three local cheerleading squads, the Yorkton Regional senior cheerleaders, Senior Gridders鈥� cheerleaders and Youth Gridders鈥� cheerleaders, made the 3.5 hour trek to Warman February 27-28 to take part in the ninth annual Warman Cheer Classic (WCC).
The WCC, one of Saskatchewan鈥檚 largest cheerleading competitions, spans across two days, much the same as competitions held south of the border in the United States, but according to cheerleading coach Jennifer Ingham, the two day event is something of a rarity in these parts. 鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of different than some other competitions in the province in that it鈥檚 a two day event,鈥� offered Ingham. 鈥淢ost competitions in the province are one day events so we only have to run our routine once, but here we have to do it twice.鈥�
Ingham then mentioned that the first time they run the routine (Day One) the end result is worth 40% of their final score.
The second time they run it (Day Two) the score counts for 60% of their final score.
The first day of competition saw the two senior teams impress in their first chance to run their routine with the YRHS cheerleading squad scoring 160.7 out of 170 for a perfection percentage 94.53% in the Senior Level Two Scholastic Cheer competition.
A deduction of .25% dropped their Day One score to 94.28%, good enough for second place behind the host Warman cheerleading team and their 94.7% perfection score.
The Senior Yorkton Gridder cheerleaders, however, did not have to look ahead of them to see their competition.
Instead they just had to look in their rear view mirrors as they posted a sparkling 189.4 out of 200 score in the Senior Level Two All-Star Cheer competition. The 189.4 score gave them a perfection percentage of 94.70% with no deductions, over one percent higher than second place WUC Sapphires through Day One.
Day Two saw the Senior Yorkton Gridder cheerleaders pick up right where they left off from Day One, putting together yet another impressive performance with their routine to score 189.3 out of 200 for a perfection percentage of 94.65%.
A deduction of .25% meant their final Day Two score was 94.40%, but when combined with their Day One score (94.70%) it was still good enough for first place in the Senior Level Two All-Star Cheer competition with a total combined score of 94.52%.
Day Two also proved to be fruitful for the YRHS cheer team as they put forth a strong effort in their second performance, scoring 159 out of 170 for a 93.53% success rate. A 1% deduction dropped the Day Two score to 92.53%, however when combined with their Day One score (94.28%) the end result proved to be more than favourable as the YRHS girls claimed the gold medal in the Senior Level Two Scholastic Cheer competition with an overall score of 93.23%.
The Yorkton Youth Gridders cheerleaders also had strong performances in the Youth Level One All-Star Cheer competition finishing sixth overall with an overall score of 92.68% (92.33% Day One and 92.92% Day Two).
The results, two first place finishes and a respectable sixth place, comes in just the cheerleaders鈥� first competition of the season and are results that the head coach could have only dreamt about prior to the competition. 鈥淚t was a bit of a surprise for us to win first,鈥� offered coach Ingham, continuing, 鈥淲e felt we had strong athletes but we weren鈥檛 sure how we would compare to the other teams that were there so we鈥檙e very proud of the girls for what they accomplished.鈥�
The girls will now prepare for a competition at the University of Regina this coming weekend in preparation for both Provincials (March 21) and their end of season Hawaii competition trip during Easter Break.
