Increased difficulty

The Jay County High School cheerleaders have been a mainstay at the Indiana State Fair
Year after year, the Patriots have had two common themes — excellence and Mindy Weaver.
For the first time in three-and-a-half decades, Weaver won’t be standing in the wings, cheering on her girls.
After the long-time coach’s retirement, JCHS has a new leader, if not new blood, with Weaver’s niece and former assistant Abby Champ at the helm as it prepares to compete Saturday in an effort to bring home a third state championship in the last five years.
The new coach’s biggest goal has been to take the Patriots’ routine to the next level.
“This year we’re really focusing on difficulty,” said Champ, who is joined by new assistants Ashley Loucks and Kristen Selvey. “Last year we went super clean. Everything we did was pretty much perfect … That’s where our score sheet was weakest this year, and so we’re trying to offset that. … We’ve got a lot more tumbling than we’ve ever had. We’ve amped up the building.”
Jay County fans and judges will notice the changes right away, as the first section of the routine includes round-off back handspring tucks.
They’re an element the Patriots had in their routine to start the summer of 2013, but that they had pulled out by the time state fair rolled around. This year, more than half the squad will be throwing them.
The changes continue in the long tumbling section, during which Jay County will have five layouts capped by a full twist from freshman Courtney Miles.
And the pyramids have become more difficult, with an added emphasis on flipping. Five groups are doing an arm bar front flip — legal at the state fair for the first time this year — and the dismounts are varied with quick tosses, twist downs and flips.
“It’s definitely been a challenge,” said senior Alexis Murrell, “but it looks really good when we hit.”
That’s the big goal — to increase the difficulty while still staying true to Weaver’s dedication to perfection. Every year she focused on making sure everything was clean, or it was out of the routine.
“Everything we’ve emphasized is, ‘We are still Jay County,’” said Champ, who was on squads that finished second at the state fair in both 2001 and ’02. “We’re still trying to get that aspect, but we’re trying to get the difficulty.”
While Champ played a major part in choreographing and teaching the routine during her years as an assistant, it’s been the little things that have been a challenge.
One such detail came up at Thursday’s practice, when the squad asked about having their mat moved to the high school for tonight’s preview performance. Champ was under the impression that the Patriots used wrestling mats for that performance.
“There’s a lot of little things that Mindy did that I had no idea she did. … That’s been the big thing,” said Champ. “Getting the parents on parent shirts … getting organized for camp, getting the mat to the high school — things that I never realized we did. Mindy just took care of all of that.”
The biggest change for the cheerleaders has been the overall tone of the summer.
Practices have been more focused, more aggressive. Breaks have been more strictly timed.
If something isn’t right, Champ isn’t afraid to let the girls know.
“She doesn’t sugar-coat anything,” said Murrell. “She just tells it like it is.”
And Weaver, who coached the Patriots to seven state fair championships, including wins in 2010 and ’12, wanted the JCHS cheerleaders to get that extra nudge.
“Mindy came back for a week and she was talking to us and she said, ‘I knew it was time for me to retire because I wasn’t pushing you guys as hard as I could,’” said senior Carli Ostrowski.
“I think it’s made us better,” added Murrell. “Our routine is a lot harder than it’s ever been because she’s pushed us so hard.”
The Patriots hope the result is that they hit all of the aspects to their difficult routine Saturday.
They want to win, not only for themselves, but for the women who have mentored them.
“(We want to) make our coach proud,” said Murrell, “and make our old coach proud too.”