By Kendall Beck
On Saturday, November 12th, the Northern York High School Cheerleaders traveled the short distance to Cumberland Valley High School to kick-off their season. The Lady Bears compete in the Small Varsity Traditional Routine Division. They competed against seven teams from the area. These teams include: Canton High School, Greenwood High School, Milton High School, Hershey High School, Garnet Valley High School, and Central York High School.
With only 15 girls being allowed on the floor during a routine per the guidelines of the PIAA Competitive Spirit rules and Varsity Spirit rules and with 21 cheerleaders being on the Gameday Roster, tough decisions had to made as to which 15 girls will perform the routine choreographed for them by UCA Staff Member, Emily, in early August.
The planned roster for this competition season as of mid-October consists of:
Senior: Takiyah Jones
Juniors: Clare Blaschak, Hanna Blaschak, and Amber Markle
Sophomores: Kendall Beck, Kira Bidelspacher, Mia Delafield, Emmy Harper, Sophia Lobo, Quinn McNair, and Addison Ritter
Freshman: Dawsen Canterbury, Bry Hildebrand, Mckena Ingram, and Peyton Leathery
With three injuries caused during the last week of October, Junior Amber Markle, and Freshman Peyton Leathery, were unable to compete at the classic. Freshman Bry Hildebrand was the third injury but is able to compete at the classic. Going in for Amber Markle is Freshman Haylee Alleman, and going in for Peyton Leathery is Sophomore Sierra Bruce.
Starting off strong from the beginning of the routine, the Lady Bears started with the jump section into standing tumbling. From there, they moved to the Partner Stunt Section. The Partner Stunt Section began with a switch-up (a release skill) to the extension position where the flyers (Sophia, Sierra, and Emmy) pull a heel stretch. From there, the stunts are dropped to waist level for a full up. Sierra and Emmy's groups go to the prep level while Sophia's group goes to the extension level. Emmy's group did suffer a fall during the full-up, but the other two groups hit smoothly. Sophia and Sierra's groups did a dismount to get to the next portion of the stunt sequence. All of the groups hit a inversion to the prep level and pressed to an arabesque. Also, Bry Hildebrand performed a round-off full during this section of the routine. From the arabesque, the girls popped off to the front to move into the cheer. From spelling P-O-L-A-R to the last Purple, Polar Bears, the girls had a perfect cheer. From the cheer, they moved back into the routine portion where they began with the dance. The dance was crisp and clean. Moving onto the running tumbling section, there were only five girls eligible to perform running tumbling at today's competition due to injuries. Addison Ritter performed a round-off back-handspring layout across the front of the mat. Mckena Ingram, Takiyah Jones, Bryanna Hildebrand, and Sophia Lobo all performed round-off back-handspring layouts from the back of the mat toward the front. Mia Delafield will be added back to the running tumbling portion for the UCA Pocono Regional Competition in December, but at this competition performed a standing pass consisting of a back-handspring, back-handspring, tuck. Moving into the final piece of the routine, the pyramid. The pyramid begins with a connected inversion to the extended level performed by Sierra Bruce as the inverted flyer. Emmy's group had a bobble, but was able to quickly recover and get up to perform the rest of the pyramid. From there, Sierra's group performed an arabian to exit her out the back of the pyramid for Sophia and Emmy's group to move closer, so that Sophia can perform a new legal skill for this season as decided upon by UCA. Sophia performed a single braced twisting baja. From there, the girls span out into five groups rather than three for the ending of the routine. Mia Delafield braces Emmy and Bryanna Hildebrand braces Sophia as they perform an single-based switch-up to the extended level. Sierra remained in the middle to catch the feet of Sophia and Emmy while they hitch over for a perfect end shot.
For this being the first competition of the season, the Lady Bears performed amazing. They placed 2nd overall in the Small Varsity Tradition Routine Division with an average score of 75.63. They beat Central York by two points. They will see the Panthers again at Districts in December. The Panthers also placed in the top 10 at the PIAA Competitive Spirit Championships last season. Will this be the season, the Lady Bears make it to Day 2 of states? Also, Garnet Valley was the state champions last year, so there is no shame in not beating them as a third year program. See the final rankings of all the teams in Small Varsity Below (from last to first)
7th: Canton HS Warriors
6th: Greenwood HS Wildcats
5th: Milton HS Panthers
4th: Hershey HS Trojans
3rd: Central York HS Panthers
2nd: Northern HS Polar Bears
1st: Garnet Valley HS Jaguars
The Lady Bears will travel to four other competitions through January as well as cheering at Basketball Games for the Varsity Boys Basketball Team. Please see the competition schedule below:
December 3rd and 4th: UCA Pocono Regionals @ the PPL Center
December 17th: PIAA District 3 Competitive Spirt Competition @ CD East High School
January 14th: CD East HS Competition @ CD East High School
January 27th-28th: PIAA Competitive Spirit Competition @ the Giant Center
