Setting standards

It’s not about redemption, really.

It’s not even about proving to themselves that they’re capable. The scoresheets have already shown that.

It’s about putting forward the quality of routine that meets their standards.

And earning another berth to nationals, of course.

The Jay County High School cheerleading squad will return to the mat Sunday afternoon at Pendleton Heights during the Hoosier Championship, a qualifier for the Universal Cheerleading Association nationals.

The Patriots, who will compete at 2:24 p.m. Sunday in the medium varsity division, are two weeks off of a performance that didn’t go as well as they would have liked as they finished sixth in Division B at the Indiana Cheer Championship.

“It didn’t go as planned,” said senior Sydnee Lee. “We did so well in prelims. I was just very confident in us doing well again. … It was all good until cheer, and then it went down from there. You could tell, everyone’s presence just kept dropping more and more throughout the routine.”

That said, a look at the scoresheet reveals how close Jay County, despite its mistakes, was to the top teams in the division. It finished just 0.8 points behind fifth-place Lowell. And had it simply kept stunts in the air, it would have likely been in contention with Pendleton Heights for the state title. (The Patriots had posted the highest score in the division at the preliminaries a week earlier at Greenfield-Central.)

So, while redemption seemed like the right word to target in the moments after the ICC results were announced, the tone has changed over the last couple of weeks.

“I think this weekend is more just about kind of where we were last year at nationals, just going and doing what we have to do to get to the place we know we deserve to be,” said Abby Champ, who coaches the JCHS competition team along with Ashley Loucks. “Looking at those (ICC) scoresheets … those scores were so tight that even with how much went wrong, we were right there with teams that had zero mistakes.”

“I just want them to be proud,” added Loucks. “I absolutely think it was evident the minute we were done (at ICC state), there wasn’t one of us that was proud of our routine. And we had some great aspects of our routine … but as overall package they know they could have done better.

“This weekend, we want to get back to … going out and having fun and having that sense of accomplishment when they’re done.”

In order to reach that goal, the Patriots have been working on confidence and presentation as they also adjust their routine to better align with the UCA scoresheet.

The changes include modifying the stunt sequence to add an inversion and spinning, which bump up the difficulty. JCHS also took out eight counts of dancing and a triple jump/back tuck combination.

In UCA competitions, up to 45 points can be awarded for stunts compared to just 15 for jumps and tumbling.

The Patriots will also have yet another lineup change this weekend.

Senior Breea Liette, who sat out the ICC competitions because of an ankle injury, will return, but junior Dara Grove will be sidelined because of a back injury.

The Patriots are seeking their second consecutive national berth for the right to compete in February in Florida. They advanced last year for the first time since the 1988-89 school year and went on to finish seventh in medium varsity Division II.

Squads advance to nationals based on score alone — the cut line typically falls at about 70 points out of 100 — so Jay County is focused less this weekend on how they compare to division rivals NorthWood, Whiteland, Lake Central, Bloomington South and Silver Creek and more on the total points they can earn.

And despite the result two weeks ago, they’re heading into Sunday’s competition believing they will reach their goal.

“We didn’t do so well (at ICC), but I think it’s pushing us to do better this time around,” said junior McKenna Daniels. “I feel confident. … I just feel like it’s all coming together now.”