The varsity cheer squad is headed to regionals following a fourth place finish at districts Feb. 19.
Oxford finished with a three-round score of 707.7600, more than seven points ahead of fifth place finisher Midland. Also joining the Wildcats in regionals will be district winner Herbert Henry Dow High School, Davison and Romeo.
‘We are really excited with all that has been accomplished,? varsity co-coach Shari Russell said. ‘It has been a big year for cheer…upping the level of our skill, throwing tucks for the first time.?
‘We weren’t really expecting to make it out of districts, but we worked really hard and are pleased with all that we have accomplished,? Russell added.
The Wildcats got off to a good start, placing second after the first round with a score of 219.5. Entering the second round, Russell said she knew her team would be at a disadvantage scoring wise since the Wildcats only had nine girls performing skills on the mat.
Meanwhile, Herbert Henry Dow had 16 girls performing skills.
In rounds two and three, judges score using the competitive multiplier, which gives teams points based on the number of girls competing on the mat due to the difficultly of timing everything perfectly, Russell explained.
Oxford lost one of their skill performers after one girl suffered a possible concussion right before the second round began.
They scored 206.6660 in round two and 281.6 in round three.
‘Round three was a little bit of a struggle for us…it wasn’t our best performance. We had a lot of changes, but the fact they performed it as well as they did with all of those changes the night before shows how strong of a team they can be,? Russell said.
This is the first year the cheer squad has competed full time in division one.
Regionals will be held at Hartland High School on Saturday, Feb. 26.
According to Russell, the goal for regionals is to achieve a personal best.
‘We know the competition is going to be extremely tough, so we don’t expect to advance onto states this year, but this is our year where we feel like we are building tradition for the future, and we are focusing on our future and building that tradition so we can meet those goals in the future,? she said.