The scores continue to climb for the Wildcat Varsity Cheerleaders as they get more comfortable with their routine.
They had another chance to show off in front of the home crowd at the Oxford Mardi Gras Mambo Invite on Saturday, Jan. 9. The Wildcats were able to flip and tumble their way to a fourth place finish in an eight-team field that included teams from Notre Dame Prep, Rochester Adams, Armada and Lapeer East.
When the event concluded, the Wildcats scored an impressive 636.7720 points. Rochester Adams won the event with 693.8260 points, followed by Notre Dame Prep and Armada.
The Wildcats found themselves fourth from the beginning of the invite with their first round score of 186.9000. From there, they were not able to advance any higher. A round two score of 191.3720 was marred by a 12 point penalty.
A third round score of 270.5000 left them six points shy of third place Armada. ‘We were really happy with that position. We have improved over last year’s score,? said Coach Shari Russell.
They were able to overcome an injury that happened to one of their starters, who pulled a hamstring while warming up in-between the first and second round. ‘The team really stepped up and pulled together to have a strong round three. Had they not worked as a team to overcome that, we wouldn’t have placed where we did,? Russell said.
The Junior Varsity team was equally impressive, finishing second behind Rochester Adams. The girls finished with 511.3552 points, 14 points ahead of third place JV team from Lapeer East. The JV girls were fourth after the opening round score of 163.1000. However, they took advantage of critical mistakes made by Lapeer East and Lakeland during their routines in the second round to vault themselves to second place. Their final round score of 213.6 kept the girls in second.
‘It was really exciting, especially for the girls that we lost (Ashley Felder and Sy’mone Johnson; see stories on page 1 and 2),? said Russell. ‘They were the two girls that who were just overjoyed in carrying that trophy around. They were very proud of that moment.?
In addition to the success of the Varsity and JV, the Middle School team took first place during their Invite.