By JOHN ANDERSON
The Wellsville cheerleading squads traveled to Avoca on Saturday for the Eye of the Tiger competition and both teams placed with the varsity team taking first place.
“It’s really exciting to win first place in the first competition of the season in our division,” said Wellsville Varsity Coach Liz Huyler. “We have a lot of veterans on the team and for the two seniors, it was well deserved.”
The seniors are Toryn Cline and Michaela Cawley. There are 13 girls on the varsity squad.
“We did a routine that included a 30-second cheer and a two-minute dance , stunting and tumbling portion,” Huyler. “The did single stunts and a pyramid stunting sequence. That includes a front flip and a back flip.”
The modified team is coached by Shyanne Ashbrook and Katie Foust.
“The modified team has 14 girls who are fairly new to cheer. They do the same type of routine,” Huyler said. “They performed really well for their first competition.”
With just two seniors and 27 cheerleaders, Huyler is excited for the future.
“We have a lot of talented girls and a lot of girls coming up. We are hoping to add a JV team in the future because we have really great numbers. We’ve had more cheerleaders than we’ve had the last few years,” Huyler said, “There seems to be a lot of renewed interest in the sport of cheerleading.
What also helps is New York State has recognized cheerleading as a sport.
“It’s not just cheering in games, it’s competiting against other teams with a chance to win a sectional title,” Huyler said. “The focus used to be just cheering basketball games. Now that we are a certified sport, the focus is on competition.”
Interaction is also at an all-time high after Covid took away fans with the support from the student section and parents.
“It’s so much fun having the student section and parents participating in cheers,” she said. “The whole aura has changed, it makes the competition more fun for the football team and the basketball team, it’s a lot of fun to be at the games and cheer on your team.”
The team has another competition in Bath on Saturday. Wellsville hosts a competition on January 29. The next game the team will cheer at will be Friday when Wellsville hosts Hornell in basketball.
