To the average fan, the Republic cheer squad is most visible on the sidelines of football and basketball games, but they’ll be in the middle of the action later this year when they again participate in the state competition in Columbia. In fact, two Republic squads will be competing–one in the co-ed division and another in the all-girl division.
No matter what happens at state, it’s already been a big year for the cheerleaders. Under new coach Matthew Massey, the team turned in a big summer, including their work at a team camp at the University of Oklahoma.
“It’s the first time the kids have been to away camp. They went to one for stunts and transitions and they really excelled there,” Massey says. “Both all-girl and varsity co-ed won champs out of the whole thing, and they also won the leadership award. That was voted on by all the other teams of what team they wished they could be a part of.
“The co-ed beat out two teams that compete nationally, and one had won nationals two years ago.”
Several team members also got All-American honors at the camp. On the co-ed team, the All-Americans were Kendal Baxter, Brendan Bice, Chris Bell, Autumn Garner, and Lindsey Stander. On the all-girl squad, Hannah Lee, Morgan Wojciechowski, Hadley Wilson, and Katie Groves were named All-Americans.
At regionals, in what has become an unfortunate Republic tradition, an injury forced the team to re-work its routine in the days before the competition.
“We had changes we had to make to the routine on the Wednesday before. We didn’t hit a perfect routine, but we went out there and gave our best,” Massey says. “I told them they had a reputation to uphold and they needed to bring the house down, and I felt like they did that.”
Wojciechowski, a member of the all-girl squad, says the competitive aspect is one of her favorite parts of cheer.
“We really come together as a team. There’s no better feeling than stepping onto that mat and knowing you’re going to give it your all, and this is what you’ve worked for all summer,” she says. “I know we’ll get to the point we want to be for state.”
Lindsey Stander, a flyer on the co-ed team, says the competitive routine highlights the athleticism of cheer.
“It shows our skills and stunts and tumbling. That side is kind of hidden to people, and that’s why they think cheerleading’s not a sport, but once they see that, it changes a lot of people’s minds,” she says.
A big part of that is the addition of more boys to the squad over the past two years, opening the door to high-flying stunts the team couldn’t do before.
“It’s been awesome. Having the guys has been a really big addition to the whole team. We have a lot of strength now, so we can do harder stunts,” she says.
And Stander says trust is a bigger part of her relationship with other team members as she flies higher.
“You definitely have to have trust. For me, the higher the better. I definitely trust them with my life,” she says. “If they do something wrong, if it slips, you’re definitely hurt. Trust is very big.”
The cheer squads will work to build that trust and hone their routines over the next two months. In addition to making appearances on the football sidelines, they’ll be building up to their appearance at state competition in November.