State fair domination (08/18/03)

INDIANAPOLIS — Jay County sent four cheerleading squads to the Indiana State Fair cheerleading contest Saturday. The results couldn’t have been much better as they came away with a championship, a runner-up finish and a second runner-up finish.

The big victory went to the Jay County junior varsity squad, which brought home the title. It marked the second straight championship for much of the squad, after winning at East Jay last year.

Jay County’s varsity girls finished second behind powerhouse and three-peat state champion Hamilton Southeastern. East Jay was third in its defense of last year’s state title.

West Jay joined the other three squads in the state fair competition this year, and just missed a top-10 placing.

It all made for a happy circle of girls donning the red, white and blue.

As is customary, the squads from Jay County took to the track in front of the grandstand stage in Indianapolis to await their fates. And, one by one, the groups took turns jumping up and down, screaming and hugging in celebration of their outstanding results.

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” said JCHS freshman Caitlin Dunn, one of the eight Patriots basking in the glory of a second straight win. The other two-time champions are Kristin Brown, Larissa Butcher, Lacey Thornburg, Mandy Theurer, Kortney Taylor, Kelsey Bone and Kayla Cline.

“I still don’t feel like we’re state champs,” said junior Sarah Ullom. “It’s overwhelming.”

However, anyone who watched knew both Jay County squads and East Jay would have every opportunity at coming home with a state title. All three were nearly flawless with their performances.

The junior varsity girls were supremely impressive, cementing themselves among the favorites along with Hamilton Southeastern. Avon ended up second with the Royals third.

East Jay was clearly a top-four squad, with Hamilton Southeastern, Pendleton Heights and Eastside as their top competition.

Most important the reaction was displayed by the varsity girls when they left the mat after their performance. Much like the other two, there was nothing but jumping and hugs, and the only tears were those of joy.

“I’m really excited because even before they announced the awards for those squads, every girl came off excited,” said Jay County coach Mindy Weaver. “There were no tears. Everyone did there best. When all the girls come off happy, that really makes you feel good as a coach.

“Those were our two best performances of the year. We hit the right day for that.”

The squads’ best efforts came a night after preview performances which weren’t so satisfying for the coaching staff. Weaver said she considered making some changes, but her assistant coaches Jenni Stout and Andrea Oswalt talked her out of it.

It was good that they did.

The scores in the junior varsity division were all over the map, as Jay County scored 80, 73, and 67 out of 90 from the three judges. The likely explanation is the judges were saving room to score other squads higher because the Patriots competed early in the event, but as it turned out, no other crew could outdo them.

The highest scores came on motion technique, in which they fell just one point away from a perfect score.

“We worked really hard all year,” said sophomore Joyce Bumbalough, who helped the team to its first state title since 1999. “We gave it our best tonight, and we did really well.”

“We just did awesome,” added fellow sophomore Jessica Howell. “I don’t think we could’ve done any better.”

For the varsity, Weaver was worried about voice and expression scores after Friday night’s performance, even though she had made it a point to work on the category throughout the summer. However, the girls turned it around Saturday, scoring nearly perfect in the category.

They also scored very well in degree of difficulty on the way to scores of 78, 78 and 79 out of 90. Those marks pushed Hamilton Southeastern, and served to upset a very impressive Pendleton Heights squad.

It was the 13th time in 25 years that the Patriots have finished first or second.

“They’re just girls you enjoy coming to practice with,” said Weaver. “They came to do cheerleading and it was fun even though we were working hard all summer. It’s really kind of nice that it’s paid off for both groups.”

East Jay coaches Kristin and Kelly Rees knew their girls might feel some added pressure this year as returned as the defending champions. Instead, the squad’s goal was to just do their best and shoot for at least a top-five finish.

That’s exactly how the day turned out, as the Chiefs were outstanding. They scored 67, 67 and 70 out of 90, with the top scores coming on precision and timing.

“We were very pleased,” said Kristin Rees. “I thought the routine was just about as good as it could have been.

“They had a great attitude an worked hard all summer. They were thrilled with third and so were we.”[[In-content Ad]]