Large Home Crowd On Hand to Support Cheerleaders
Bringing high energy into a packed home gym, the Rockbridge County High School competition cheerleading team placed third of five teams at the Wildcat Rumble last Wednesday night in Lexington.
The top three teams received trophies, with Salem winning and RC’s Shenandoah District rival Stuarts Draft placing second. Also competing were Christiansburg and Luray County. Team scores were not provided.
Each team’s routine was required to last at least two minutes and 30 seconds and no more than three minutes, with music for no more than one minute and 45 seconds.
During the Wildcats’ routine, they did several chants of “Go Big Blue!” and showed their agility with flips and pyramids.
Reviewing her team’s performance, RC head coach Shannon Bryan said, “I think our energy across the
, page A11 board really showed tonight. It helps being in front of your home crowd and having people here to support you. The girls had a lot of confidence tonight, which definitely helps when you’re out there performing as a team in front of a lot of people.”
Bryan, who is in her seventh year as the Wildcats’ head coach, praised the RC athletic department for making sure the competition ran smoothly.
The Wildcats, who had won their home competition last September before going on to earn their first-ever regional title in program history and placing eighth in the Class 3 state competition, have a younger team this year after graduating seven seniors, including one, Cameron Terry, who is cheering for Division III school Roanoke College.
Bryan said that, after graduating a strong class from last year, the Wildcats “had a lot we needed to build this year, and the team definitely showed up.” The RC coach noted that several of her cheerleaders were in new positions this year.
RC has five seniors, t hree juniors, five sophomores and two freshmen. Four of the RC cheerleaders are on the team for the first time this year.
Cheering for the Wildcats, under the direction of Bryan and assistant coach Sarah Parnell, are seniors Lillian Ballard, Gabriella Brown, Riley McDaniel, Emma Mines and Willow Rogers; juniors Makenna Brinkley, Maria Calomeris and Celia Jones; sophomores Sofia Gaydos, Emmalee Grimm, Ariana Mitchell, Natasha Shorter and Chloe Zollman; and freshman Alaina Early and Josellyn Fitz.
RC, which placed third in the Valley District last fall, switched to the Shenandoah District this year.
Optimistic about the season after the first two competitions, on Sept. 13 at Heritage High School in Lynchburg and then last Wednesday at home, Bryan said, “Going into a new district this year, it’s hard to know what competition we have, but I think we’re off to a good start to be able to handle whatever competition is thrown at us.”
On Saturday, the Wildcats will compete at William Byrd High School in Vinton.
