JC cheerleaders 4th in state (11/08/04)

NEW CASTLE — There were some questions for the Jay County cheerleaders after their competition at the East Regional last week. But, after making a bunch of changes the following week, the Patriots again came up big on the state stage.

Jay County, which combined its varsity and junior varsity squads for the ICA events, vaulted over one regional foe and finished fourth at the Indiana Cheer Association State Championships at New Castle Saturday, finishing with a score of 403 in Class 3A. The varsity squad was also fourth at the Indiana State Fair competition this summer.

The Patriots’ score improved by an average of more than 10 points per judge from the previous week. That jump pushed them ahead of Mount Vernon (Fortville), which was sixth after placing second at the regional a week earlier.

Three of the top six teams came out of that East Regional, including champion Pendleton Heights (428.5). Indianapolis Brebeuf (421) was second, defending champion Jasper took third (416.5) and Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger was fifth (398).

Winning titles in other classes were Northeast Dubois in 1A, Knightstown in 2A and Hamilton Southeastern in 4A. Winchester placed second in Class 2A.

Anderson Highland won the partner stunt competition, and Keisha Mitchel of North Central took first in the individual competition.

Jay County coach Mindy Weaver said she was happy with the result, especially after changing the routine to try to improve after the regional round.

“I was pleased after yesterday,” she said. “After the regionals I was a little confused.

“We had made some changes this week based on what judges saw (at regional). I usually don’t like to do that (so) close to a contest. But, we decided we’re not going to be competitive if we don’t. And, those changes went really well.

“We really had very few problems. As far as a major mistake, I just didn’t see too much.”

After scoring between 68 and 76 out of 100 from each of the four judges at regional competition, the Patriots bumped their numbers up in a big way at the state. Their lowest score was a 76.5, and three out of the five judges put them at 82 or higher with a top score of 84.

Their highest scores came in tumbling, which Weaver said really was not a surprise. They scored 42 out of a possible 50 points in tumbling, earning two 8.0s, two 8.5s and one 9.0 from the judges.

“I thought our jumps, tumbling, dance — the quality of doing a little bit of everything — were there,” Weaver said. “One thing I was real happy about was I have more people tumbling at the beginning. And, it’s harder tumbling than we’ve ever gone for and hit it.”

They had 41 points for jumps, 41.5 for fundamentals-motion technique and 40.5 for degree of difficulty.

Some of the Patriots’ lower scores came in building and dance, but they still scored at least sevens in those areas as well. Weaver said she knows Jay County will need to improve in those spots in order to have a chance at knocking off a team like Pendleton Heights in regional and state competition in years to come.

Still, she was happy to jump one spot from last year’s fifth-place effort.

“I was pleased with our performance,” said Weaver, who was also named the ICA Coach of the Year last season. “Once I’ve looked at the scores and studied them a bit we were probably where we should be. That’s something to be proud of considering what I saw yesterday.”[[In-content Ad]]