Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
The Worland High School cheer team, performing at halftime of a recent Warrior basketball game, will have to wait to compete at the state competition. The competition was postponed from Saturday to March 8 due to inclement weather.
The Worland High School dance team will have to wait to compete at the state competition, which was postponed to March 8 due to inclement weather. Pictured here performing at a recent Warrior game are (l-r): Aubree Kruger, Daniela Deniz, Sydney Davis and Nicole Harrington.
WORLAND – A bus full of Worland High School cheerleaders was on their way to Casper for the Wyoming High School Athletic Association (WHSAA) State Spirit Competition on Friday, Jan. 27 when they received a notification – the event had been cancelled due to winter weather advisories.
"We got almost to the rest area, then had to turn around and come back," Coach Nickie Lloyd said. "There were a few tears, but we stopped in Shoshoni at the gas station and everybody got in a big circle, yelled out their frustrations, and got some snacks. They blasted some sad music and sang along on the way home and they were good to go. They're fun."
Lloyd said she is glad to work with such an easy-going group, and that despite the disappointment of the cancellation, the Worland High School cheerleaders will continue to work and improve until the rescheduled competition on March 8. "We're going to keep our routines the same, but it does give us a little bit of time. Some girls weren't happy with their toe-touches, so it just gives us some more stretching time and gives us some more stunt time. You can always do a better toe-touch, so we'll just look at adding as little extra height to those things," Lloyd said.
The struggle with the rescheduled date is that some of the cheerleaders will move on into other activities, such as soccer. The team plans to meet once a week until the competition in order to keep their routines clean and allow its cheerleaders to participate in their usual activities.
Lloyd described the team's dance, headed by Coach Brooklyn Hansen, as a "sassy royalty" hip hop routine. The dance was choreographed by the cheerleaders themselves, a strategy that won the team third place at state last year. The goal, Lloyd said, is to beat their own scores. "Our dance routine is perfection, so hopefully it stays that way, our girls are great," Lloyd said.
In addition, the team will compete in game day cheer, which includes a dance, defensive or offensive cheer, a crowd participation cheer and a stunt or tumbling, all to be completed within three minutes. "We've got it down to 2:50, so we'll have time to rally in-between if we need some more pep to it, but they were really ready to go, they've done a great job," Lloyd said.
Lloyd expressed appreciation for her team and its six captains, "They've just done a really good job and done everything we've asked them to, which has been a lot, and they've done it kindly and gracefully, so we really appreciate them."
The WHSAA State Spirit Competition has been rescheduled for March 8, and tickets purchased for the original event will be honored on the rescheduled date.
