Cheer gains some redemption at Game Day

After a disappointing showing at the competitive cheer state championships, Carma Reagan challenged her team to refocus for the Game Day competition.

The team responded. Kingfisher placed fourth last Saturday in the Game Day state competition at Union High School in Tulsa.

KHS was among the 15 teams to qualify for state by placing sixth at the regional the week before.

Then after all 15 teams competed on Saturday, Kingfisher was among the six to advance to the finals and perform again.

Kingfisher got matching scores of 664.6 points in each round.

Crossings Christian School won the state championship with 702.6 points and narrowly edged Community Christian’s 702.4. And that barely edged Bethany’s 702.2 points.

Kingfisher’s final total was 10 points better than fifth-place Lone Grove.

Reagan said her team excelled despite putting in some work the teams above hers did not.

“The top three teams haven’t gone to cheer for their football teams the last two weeks,” Reagan said.

She noted that neither Crossings Christian nor Community Christian made the playoffs so they couldn’t cheer last Friday, but they weren’t on the sidelines in Week 10 prior to the regional. Bethany, she said, wasn’t on the sideline in the Bronchos’ Week 10 or playoff game.

Kingfisher played in the Ardmore area each of the last two weeks and the cheerleaders were with them.

“Our girls have gotten home at 1:15 a.m. the last two weeks, so I’m proud of them for doing both their jobs on the sidelines and for competition,” Reagan said.

In Game Day, teams are judged in the categories of fight song, crowd leading and band dance.

That requires the team to pull in some “extras” for help with things such as flags and signs.

Among those competing, whether as part of the competitive team or helping out at Game Day, were eight girls who also play basketball.

“We had to work around their practice and scrimmage schedule, which added to the difficulty,” Reagan said.

Kingfisher was fifth after the preliminary round, just 1.6 points behind Lone Grove.

KHS earned scores of 208.6 for fight song, 272.6 for crowd leading and 183.4 in band dance to achieve the initial score.

In the finals, Kingfisher received scores of 210.4, 271 and 183.2, respectively. Team members were Scout Snodgrass, Avery Snider, Ximena De La Torre, Haliegh Eaton, Maycen Tollefson, Raegen Johnston, Kinlee East, Emily Muñoz, Mattie Slezickey, Brinley Reese, Hadley Yost, Aubree East, Harlie Waeger, Ryan Scammahorn, Bentlee Lack, Rystan Jerkins, Camilla Richards, Reagan Staton, Maddie Young, Kennedy Stewart and Tiffany Conner. Also joining for Game Day were Ela Hartman, Taityn Walker, Callie Blair, Reese Roof and Abbie Myers.