By Joe Vigil
Football season has been over for a month now and basketball season is just beginning, but the cheerleaders have been anything but inactive in the interim.
The Farmer Cheerleaders had a great day at the Nov. 7 league competition in which the junior varsity team captured second place. The varsity team did not finish far from that high mark. “We got third (out of nine teams),” said senior varsity cheerleader Sasha Valdez. The Farmers had an impressive day all around, especially considering the fact that they competed against 3A, 4A, 5A and co-ed teams.
Next up for the Farmers was the state competition. “That’s when all Colorado teams come together and compete,” said Valdez. “(Every team was) there, 1A-5A, co-ed, hip-hop, dance, everything.” The event, which took place on Dec. 7 at the Denver Coliseum, required the cheerleaders to create a 2-2½ minute long routine that contains elements of dance, cheer, stunting, jumps and tumbling.
Varsity cheer team competes at league on Nov. 7.
The Farmers extended their positive run at the competition. “We finished 20th out of 45, which is good because we wanted to place in the top 20,” said junior and varsity cheerleader Melanie Bochantin. The cheerleaders had to overcome quite a few odds to attain such a high ranking. “We…had a lot of injuries,” continued Bochantin. Valdez and freshman McKenna Harr were injured in the warm-up room prior to the routine.
The varsity poms team also found a great deal of success at their state performance. “We finished fifth in state,” said senior varsity pom Kasundra Prybil, a marked improvement from 2012. “We finished 13th last year,” said senior varsity pom Zoe Sares.
However, the Farmers were narrowly edged out of the next round by Battle Mountain. “We finished .63 points away from the final round,” said Sares.
Varsity cheer team performing at league on Nov. 7.
From here, the Farmer cheerleaders will have the national competition to look forward to. Nationals, which will take place from Feb. 12-16 at the Anaheim Event Center in Anaheim, California, is open to any cheerleading that participated in their state competition. “We’re already locked in,” said Bochantin.
The poms team is also looking forward to state, which takes place the weekend of Mar. 29 in California.
In the meantime, the Farmer cheerleaders will continue to cheer on our athletes and entertain the audiences at every sporting event that they can make it to.
