SOARING EXPECTATIONS

As she grabbed a rare spare moment to catch her breath on the mat, Scout Snodgrass had one major observation.

“Cheer is hard.”

That’s saying something coming from someone whose “main” sports are cross country and track, which require hours and hours (and miles and miles) of training in the form of running.

But that’s the reality that smacked Snodgrass and some 20 other Kingfisher High School cheerleaders who begin their quest to return to the mountaintop of their sport beginning this weekend.

KHS will be joined by six other teams at a Class 4A competitive cheer regional this Saturday in Chickasha.

The squad from Kingfi sher will perform its routine at 12:51 p.m.

A regional championship or runner-up finish automatically qualifies the team for state.

However, a score of 225 from the judges will also advance teams to the following weekend’s ultimate competition in Tulsa.

That’s when the stakes are at their highest and when Kingfisher has shone brightest before.

But it’s not easy. It’s hard.

••• Snodgrass is a newcomer to the team, but seven members of this year’s group were on the 2023 squad that returned KHS to elite status.

Ximena De La Torre, Haleigh Eaton, Avery Snider, Kinlee East, Brinley Reese, Emily Muñoz and Raegen Johnston were part of the Class 4A state championship, the first KHS team to do so since 2008.

Carma Reagan coached that team along with Lori Burns (who was the head coach of Kingfisher’s three other state titles in the sport).

The duo stepped away prior to last year and although KHS qualified for state, it was a different team with a different coach.

The reduction in force at Kingfisher in December affected the cheer program. Reagan agreed to return to finish out last year and is back again this year.

She is joined in coaching by Mackenzie Eppenbach, who Reagan called “a big asset to our team.”

Together, Reagan said, there has been some ground to make back up.

“I had resigned in May 2024 so I was absent from the program for eight months before I came back in December,” Reagan said. “The girls lost a lot of skill in that short time frame so we started this summer playing catch up.”

And they’ve spent a lot of time doing that as well as learning and trying to perfect the routine they’ll perform.

Here’s a look at the cheerleaders’ work load since the beginning of June:

• Practice from 7 to 8:30 a.m. Monday through Thursday and that was before they attended the Summer Pride weightlifting and conditioning workouts.

• That lasted through the end of July and some weeks they’d add a two-hour tumbling practice on Tuesday nights.

• Between practice and lifting, they were putting in 12 to 14 hours a week.

• Starting in August, the team moved to a school schedule. They practice every weekday from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m.

• They also have practice on Sundays.

• Two weeks ago, the team began coming in at 7 a.m. to get in 30 to 40 minutes of extra work before school “just to try and get better.”

The extra work can separate the great from the good, but it’s also a necessity for Reagan’s team.

“We have to go on Sundays as well as every weekday because we have multisport athletes,” Reagan said.

Four members of the team - East, Maycen Tollefson, Ryan Scammahorn and Kennedy Stewart - also play softball.

Two others - Snodgrass and Mattie Slezickey - also run cross country.

Those sports are also in-season.

Cross country often has its practices early in the morning prior to school.

Softball coach Morgan Dutton has proven to be a team player as well.

“Thanks to Coach Dutton, we get the softball girls every Wednesday for practice. Instead of them going to softball they come to cheer,” Reagan said. “She also lets them come 20 to 30 minutes on home or away game days if time allows.

“We have worked together to try and find the best solution for these girls to be successful in both of their sports.”

The team learned the routine the last week of June. Members spent three hours one evening learning it, then three hours the next morning.

But then there was a lull that started with the OSSAA’s required dead period the week of July 4.

The rest of July wasn’t easy either.

“It was tough because we always have girls gone for camps and such,” Reagan said. “We didn’t have a practice in July with all 21 girls. We still practiced and did routine work, but we didn’t get a full routine practice again until August.”

Then there is the routine itself.

“Our routine this year is difficult, but we should qualify for state based on our skill level,” Reagan said. “However, we have to execute each stunt and skill darn near perfect or we could risk not qualifying.”

And, she added, it’s about peaking at the right time.

Kingfisher hasn’t yet peaked.

“We aren’t quite ready for Saturday,” Reagan said. “I am hoping with one more big practice and our showing Wednesday night we can get there.”

The team is performing its routine at a showing that is open to the public at 5:45 p.m. Wednesday (Sept. 17) at the APB.

Other 4A teams competing at the Chickasha regional are Pauls Valley, Marlow, Crossings Christian, Cache, Sulphur and North Rock Creek.

There are also nine 4A teams that will compete at the Stroud regional.

Right now, Crossings Christian is the top dog of 4A.

The team has won four of the last five state championships in the class, including last year.

“They are the team to beat every year. They are well-coached and very talented,” Reagan said. “We just want to execute a perfect routine to have a chance at knocking them off that top spot.”

Kingfisher has been in that top spot before.

“The seven girls who were on the state championship team in 2023 remember how hard it was to achieve that goal,” Reagan said. “They’ve been good at showing the young ones the hard work and dedication it takes to be in contention.”

There’s being in contention and there’s doing what it takes to win.

“We only won by one point the year we did it,” Reagan recalled.

In fact, just 2.6 points separated the champs from fourth place.

“Attention to the small details is so important,” Reagan added. “It literally is what pushed us to that top spot.”

During a recent practice, especially during times the team was struggling to nail a stunt or stick a tumbling pass, Reagan repeated words of encouragement.

“You can do hard things.” She believes that heading into the regional.

“The girls just need to lock in and focus,” she said. “I told them there is no better feeling than having your named called on Saturday at state.”