A Rumble In Rockbridge Wildcat Cheerleaders Host Competition
The gym at Rockbridge County High School was rocking last Wednesday night, as the RC competition cheerleading team played host for the Wildcat Rumble, with eight teams competing.
Northside won the competition, and the top four teams received trophies. Stuarts Draft placed second, Bath County finished third, and Salem came in fourth. Only the top four teams were announced. In addition to the Wildcats, other teams competing were Brookville, Louisa County and Staunton River. It was a bigger event than last year, when there were five teams, and the cheerleaders entertained themselves by dancing to music while waiting for results.
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 their routine, the Wildcats showed their agility and performed a variety of acrobatic moves while their fans cheered. They held up letters and repeated several chants, including, “We’re blue and white. We’re the ‘Cats, ‘Cats, ‘Cats.”
This was the second competition for the Wildcats this season, after they had competed in the Big Orange Invitational four days earlier at Heritage High School in Lynchburg.
Proud of her cheerleaders, RC head coach Shannon Bryan said, “I think they did well. We changed a few things from the last competition. We changed it in Monday’s practice and then decided to change one more thing on Tuesday, so for that short of a turnaround from their last performance, they did pretty well. A couple timing issues, but not too bad, just some things we need to clean up.”
After performing, the Wildcats’ six seniors were recognized and presented flowers. RC’s seniors are Makenna Brinkley, Maria Calomeris, Lily Gist, Celia Jones, Destiny Peach and Chase Potter. Jones, Brinkley and junior Tasha Shorter are the Wildcats’ three co-captains. Bryan said they are all “great leaders for us.”
Potter, who joined the squad for the first time this year, is the Wildcats’ first male cheerleader in recent history and the first one since Bryan became RC’s head coach seven years ago.
The Wildcats have seven juniors, two sophomores and a freshman, for a total of 16 cheerleaders.
Other cheerleaders for the Wildcats, under the direction of Bryan and assistant coaches Sarah Parnell and Alli Thomas, are juniors Harper Bruno, Jordyn Fitzgerald, Emmalee Grimm, Ariana Mitchell, Sophia Sloan and Chloe Zollman; sophomores Alaina Early and Josellyn Fitz; and freshman Sophia Hanna.
The Wildcats graduated five seniors from last year’s team, which placed second in the Shenandoah District competition last October before placing sixth in the Region 3C competition.
RC will compete at Turner Ashby High School in Bridgewater tonight, Wednesday, at 6:30 p.m. before traveling to William Byrd High School for a competition on Saturday at 10 a.m.
Like last year, the Wildcats will play host for the Shenandoah District competition, which is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 21, at 6:30 p.m.
