The start of the new cheerleading season will begin with practices on the 29th of October. There are 13 cheerleaders on the squad this year. There are 9 seniors: Grace Soete, Lexi Oetterer, Mikayla Maloney, Megan Boehmer, Miranda Durbin, Audrey Ford, Diana Ribera, Elsie McNabb, and Cecelia Malone; 1 junior: Bernabe Ribera; and 3 freshmen: Ava Vandergriff, Ryan Stutzmann, and Miranda Yarbrough. The coach this year again is Mischki Soete, and this will be her fourth year coaching.
“I am very excited about our upcoming cheer season,” said Mischki Soete. “We have a bigger cheer squad this year of 13 cheerleaders, and that will make us louder and we'll have a bigger presence on the sideline.”
Mischki Soete continued, “I am looking forward to this season as well. I want to continue to build on what we accomplished last year by creating new cheers, and adding the new cheerleaders into them. We have our work cut out for us, but I know we can handle it. We have a solid base of veteran cheerleaders, and they will work hard to help the new freshmen cheerleaders learn all the cheers.”
The cheerleading team has already started working on their season. They have had multiple fundraisers to earn money to pay for their uniforms. Also, they did open gyms in the summer to help learn the cheers and get a jump-start on the season.
“It's always nice to get a headstart on the cheers, so when practice starts, we can work on other things like building and floor cheers,” commented Grace Soete.
Elsie McNabb said, “I feel like we have been successful with our fundraisers so far.”
The team was asked about how they felt about the upcoming season.
“I'm really looking forward to being back on the court,” replied Miranda Durbin. “After tearing my hamstring my sophomore year, it was so hard to watch my teammates cheer on while I sat on the sidelines. Junior year, when I tried to follow my photography calling, I just kept wishing to be back on the court, cheering.”
Diana Ribera said, “I'm excited. We have such a bigger cheer squad then we did last year. I hope that we try new floor and sideline cheers.”
The squad was also asked about what they are looking forward to this season.
“I'm really looking forward to pep rallies and hopefully becoming a better flyer,” answered Miranda Yarbrough. “We didn't have the greatest results at the cheer camp, but I'm ready to work hard and do my best.”
“I am looking forward to the increase in school spirit-- hopefully the student section will be more involved this year,” said Mikayla Maloney.