Changing their tune

Mindy Weaver equates putting together a cheerleading routine to writing a song.
For years, the Patriots’ tune has followed a familiar pattern. This year, Weaver and her squad have decided to change things up, swapping the chorus and verses and throwing in some new chords for good measure.
The defending Indiana State Fair champion Jay County High School cheerleading squad is in the final days of polishing up its new-look routine as it prepares to compete Saturday in Indianapolis.
“I knew gymnastics was a little weak for us this year, compared to maybe some years,” said Weaver, who is in her 35th year leading the Patriots. “So I thought, ‘We’ve got to do something different. We can’t just do the same old thing.’”
“I really like it,” added senior Ericka Reynolds. “I just feel like it really showcases our strengths.
“We won last year, and you’ve got to get creative if you want to win two years in a row. I feel like that’s what we did.”
Jay County won’t wait long to change things up.
The Patriots have generally opened their routines with some sort of tumbling — toe-touch back handsprings or a standing back handspring tucks — in hopes of getting the crowd fired up.
They still want to get fans on their feet in a hurry, they’ll just be using building to do it.
They’ll open with a long building section as they send Chelsea Russell, Morgan Brown, Alexus Liette, Alexis Murrell and Kayla Ferguson up in the air.
“Our beginning, the building, if we’re on, is really impressive,” said Weaver, whose squad also includes seniors Olivia Cash, Charis Bietler, Cydney Huey, Rachel Vogler and Brea Burcham, juniors Carli Ostrowski and Bryttani Knight, sophomores Sierra Trobridge, Menausha VanSkyock, Mallory Marshall and Madison Miller, and freshmen Whitney Lowe, Lauren Teagle, Giannina Perod, Leearah Eldridge, Kylie Ring and Samantha Link. “It’s just solid. And building is not always our strength.”
It wasn’t necessarily a strength this year either, but the Patriots have worked all summer to change that.
“We didn’t have one group that could do a ‘Lib’, which is a one-legged stunt,” said Weaver of her first practice this year. “We start state fair out with four of them.”
Jay County’s opening tumbling has usually been followed by a section of building stunts, then long tumbling, building pyramids, a jump combination and then the big finish. Since moving a building section to the front of the routine, they’ll then move into a long-tumbling section that will look very different from those in the past.
Usually the long tumbling involves clearing the mat and then sending girls in waves, front-to-back, back-to-front, side-to-side and diagonally across the mat. Those who don’t tumble are generally standing along the sides or in the back yelling and/or smiling.
This year, everyone is involved, whether they’re tumblers or not.
The section opens with a group cheering in the center of the mat and then splitting to form paths for Ostrowski, Miller, Russell and Brown to tumble through. The middle group then comes together again and builds in three sets before splitting once more for tumbling passes by Cash and Trobridge.
With the state fair judges often being the same year after year, JCHS hopes the changes will be eye-catching.
“We’re doing some things I’ve never seen other teams do,” said Reynolds. “I think it’s going to be cool.
“They’re going to know this is not the norm for us.”
That combined building and tumbling section wasn’t perfect from the start.
As they tried new things, it took the Patriots some time to figure out what would work and what would not.
“Mindy is all about, ‘Well, let’s try it, and if it doesn’t work, we’ll think of something else,’” said Cash. “So we try these ideas. … We give our input. … And then finally it’s like, ‘That’s the idea we want.’”
After the long tumbling the Patriots will head into jump combinations, build pyramids and then hit toe-touch back handsprings before coming together for a big group cheer to finish.
They’re hoping they’ll get to have one more big cheer later in the evening, when awards are announced.
The Patriots are looking to win back-to-back titles for the first time since 1988 as well as three in a span of just four years. And they say this one would hold extra meaning, given the camaraderie the squad has built this year.
“That’s 23 girls that all get along,” said Reynolds. “Day after day, practice after practice, I have not had one moment of drama this year.
“So I want to win definitely for my group. That’s my goal. I love these girls.”

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