BY ROSS MUNSON, special to the Wellsville Sun
(Editor’s Note: Ross Munson, a teacher at Wellsville, is a former yearbook advisor who continues to help promote the academic and athletic achievements of students from his photos, training student journalists and his writing. He went to the state championships in Binghamton as a reporter for this feature)
The Wellsville Winter Cheer Team made history this season, twice in fact.
The varsity competitive cheerleading team won the Section V championship then won the first round at states before placing as state finalists, finishing fifth.
Coach Liz Huyler said that this season has been a dream come true for her and the girls. Winning sectionals has always been the goal, but placing fifth at the state competition was completely unexpected and words can’t describe the team’s feelings.
This cheer team is nothing like your grandparent’s cheer squads.
You will often see the team at basketball games showing their school spirit and cheering on the team, but this is not the focus of the season. The sport is competitive cheerleading and it is very athletic.
“During a typical season we learn a two-and-a-half-minute routine in November/early December that includes all of the things that we need on a score sheet. We learn a routine with the score sheet in mind,” Huyler said. “How can we max out our difficulty, while still doing stunts that we can do well?”
Huyler explained the coaching and process that takes place.
“The execution of the stunts is scored higher than the difficulty. There are two factors to all of the stunting and tumbling; how difficult was it and how well did you execute it?” she said. “We start our year with a routine that we can perform and hit. Throughout the year we continue to add more difficult things to our routine.
“The overall goal is to go to sectionals with the most difficult and best executed routine. The routine evolves throughout the season, the routine we did in early January is very different from the routine we just performed at states,” Huyler continued. “We are upgrading from advanced skills to super elite skills and we can execute them well because we have practiced them so much.”
And execute they did.
The Wellsville cheer team won the Division 2 Large Team at the Section V competition on February 18 at Gates-Chili High School against five schools. Divisions are based on the size of the school and the size of the team. Each team is scored in the categories of cheer, execution and difficulty in stunts and pyramids, tumbling, jumps and dance.
The NYSPHSAA Competitive Cheerleading Championships was held on March 4 at the Visions Veterans Memorial Arena in Binghamton. Wellsville competed in the Division 2 Large Team group with 12 other schools. At 4:03 p.m. the girls took the stage to show the state judges why they deserved to be there.
It was a strong performance, but it wasn’t perfect.
“After the minor fall we expected to not have very high scores in execution,” Huyler said. “I was mixed as to whether we would make the top 5 because the competition we were up against was really strong. I was afraid that the fall was going to hurt us. There were some really strong teams from Long Island that we went against.”
Only the Top 5 would be given another chance to fight for the top spot.
Then the waiting began.
The girls wouldn’t find out if they made the top five for 90 minutes. This gave everyone a lot of time to wonder if they had done enough, if the mistake would oust them from the top five or not. When the judges began announcing the top five for each Division, the team was thrilled when they unexpectedly heard Wellsville get called.
Upon hearing that the team had made it as one of the best in New York State, Huyler said, “It was completely unexpected to hit Top 5. Walking into states, our goal was to hit Top 5, but having looked at some of the other team’s routines, I didn’t think it was achievable because their scores were so much higher than our average. We put out a great routine in the preliminary round but I just didn’t think it was going to be enough.”
The girls hit a perfect final performance to wrap up the day. After the judges tallied their scores Wellsville was announced as having earned fifth place at the NYS Competitive Cheerleading Championships.
Huyler hasn’t had long to reflect on the season but wanted to add that, “The season really has been a dream come true on so many levels. Winning sectionals and placing 5th in states is not something that I ever thought that Wellsville Cheer would achieve.”
Achievements like these are not without hard work from each team member and without strong student leadership. The team is led by Captains and seniors Alyssa Dorrough and Bella Sparatta.
“Alyssa and Bella have been great leaders for the team. They are passionate about cheer and are really great teammates and they push the team to compete to their fullest,” Huyler said. It makes a difference to have the leaders of the team want something so much, it makes everyone want to work hard for them.”
The success of the team had a major impact on the students as individuals. Dorrough thought the states was going to be a fun trip. When it was over, she was thinking about how this could be part of her college career.
“Going to states was just supposed to be a fun little experience for our team, especially going for the first and last time ever for myself,” Dorrough said “We had a fun weekend and I was relaxed going into it. After the minor mistake in our first performance I was sad and frustrated because I thought it was my last performance and a bad one to end on.
“The feeling was so surreal and special when we heard that we had made the Top 5,” she continued. “Being a captain to this group of girls has been extremely special to me as I’ve been cheering with them for so many years … I’m very proud and appreciative of this group of girls, I love them.
“Cheer has been a part of my life forever and I’m sad to let WVC go,” Dorrough added. “I’m not sure about the future but I am leaning towards continuing in college.”
As for why this team will forever be in the history books Coach Huyler added, “We have some really experienced upperclassmen. Our underclassmen work really hard to push for perfection. There is a strength in numbers, but there is also a strength in the passion to succeed. This change in attitude and passion is what has really pushed us to the place we are at now.”
Huyler, who was Liz Hurley when she graduated from Wellsville in 2000, cheered her senior year at Wellsville under Marcy Perrin.
“She was excellent, Marcy was a good coach and I wished I cheered longer, but I always did dance,” Huyler said.
Huyler was the junior varsity coach and assistant varsity under Lorrie Ebert, who stepped down after a long term as a coach and Huyler took over five years ago.
“Lorrie taught me how to communicate to the kids and how to find what motivates them and wants to work harder,” Huyler said.
After some much-deserved rest, Huyler is looking forward to some off season training that will be focused on tumbling and stunting skills to set up the team for another successful season.
PHOTO GALLERY BY ROSS MUNSON:
