West Jay finishes in fourth

For Jay County’s junior high cheerleading squads, it was a day of mixed emotions.
West Jay Middle School advanced to the finals with a standout preliminary performance. But some struggles with stunts in the evening took the Eagles out of contention for a championship repeat.
Meanwhile, East Jay missed out on a top-five spot in the preliminaries and did not advance to the finals.
Still, West Jay’s fourth-place finish behind champion Fall Creek, Perry Meridian and Mount Vernon marked the first time since 2006 that the squad finished in the top four in consecutive seasons.
“Their first performance was phenomenal,” said first-year WJMS coach Brea Burcham.
“They had a few flaws during the second performance, but the girls still gave it their all.
“I’m very proud.”
The Eagles nailed their morning routine and looked like a contender to win back-to-back state titles. They earned 268 out of a possible 300 points, including a perfect 10 from one judge for crowd appeal/voices.
After a strong set of jumps to start the finals, three of West Jay’s four building groups in the opening stunt fell. The squad recovered to still post some solid numbers, but the miscues left it low in stunts/pyramids/tosses and overall routine/synchronization/transitions.
“I think the girls were just really nerved up and the nerves got the best of them there,” said Burcham. “But they came back and they hit their pyramid ... So I think once they got through that nerves they were fine.”
The Eagles’ best marks across the board came in tumbling, where they picked up 64 out of a possible 80 points. They added 63 out of 80 for jumps and also picked up a nine out of 10 from one judge for motion technique/execution.
East Jay’s best marks came for crowd appeal/voices and degree of difficulty, earning 23.5 out of a possible 30 in the preliminary round. Lower marks came for tumbling and stunts, keeping the Chiefs out of the finals.
Coach Sarah Ullom, whose squad had been fourth each of the previous two years, said her girls were “heartbroken”, but also emphasized the aspects of team building and showing support for the WJMS and Jay County High School squads.
“It wasn’t what I expected to see,” she added in reference to the score sheets. “Nerves got the best of us I believe, but overall I was very happy with what we did. We performed better than we have all summer, so I was happy with that routine.”