Tumbling, stunting and flying high

Under the tutelage of first-year head coach Kelsey Sugg, this group of 12 embarks on a new challenge in their first competition of the season this Saturday at David Douglas High School in Portland.

“Our team is very excited to have our first competition this weekend,” said cheer member Jessika Nanez. “We are definitely nervous, but we are hoping that all of the practices and hard work will have us prepared. To be successful, we will need to come together as a team and keep a positive vibe.”

Since last September, the cheer squad has put in six hours per week and some weekends, putting an emphasis on all aspects of cheerleading, ranging from pyramids, stunts, tosses and tumbling.

Helping this group along the way in a collaborative process, Sugg said she is thankful for the contributions of choreographer Tara Mahoney and assistant coach and former Portland Trail Blazer dancer, Andrea Pena.

Nanez said the group has been focusing a lot of attention on stunting, especially since competitive cheer is mostly new to many of the team members.

“We have put in a lot of work and we’re looking forward to this weekend to see how we compete,” Nanez said. “For our team to be successful this weekend, we can’t drop any of our stunts and we have to do all of our tumbling.”

At this weekend’s competition at David Douglas, The Dalles competes along with other 5A programs such as Milwaukie, Ridgeview, Parkrose, Lebanon and Churchill.

Springfield, who is participating in a cheer compeition in Eugene this weekend, won the 5A state championship last season, so the Riverhawks will have some fierce competition to face in the coming weeks.

The judges give scores in each section of every team’s routine.

The judging is intense for cheer, Sugg said.

Teams are judged on a vast array of disciplines, ranging from flexibility of flyers, tumbling difficulty, spacing, formations, the dance, the cheer, the cheerleader’s voice strength and clarity, creativity of routines and jumps.

“The biggest one is stunting,” Sugg added. “No stunt ever hits perfectly every time. If you do not execute a stunt though, you can lose all your points for that section.”

Once each squad receives their marks, it will give them a better gauge on strengths and weaknesses to work on in preparation for state on Saturday, Feb. 13 at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland.

Performing well at state or in cheerleading for that matter, is nothing new to The Dalles High School.

From 1998 until 2008, The Dalles won 11 cheerleading championships in a row.

In 2001, The Dalles’ cheerleading team was ranked third in the nation and placed second and fourth, respectively, in Advanced Stunt groups in that same competition in Anaheim, Calif.

Former coach Kristi Maley was also named Coach of the Year in 2001 for the state of Oregon and was a finalist for the Most Outstanding High School Cheerleading coach in the nation in 2008 by the International Cheerleading Federation.

In 2009, TD’s cheer team ended up in second place, and then Maley decided to move her focus to dance and drill.

For the first three seasons, TD did not win any awards, but in 2013 and 2014, it picked up consecutive third-place honors.

Finally, in her final season in 2015, The Dalles Flyte Dance and Cheer earned its first state championship.

Back when she was introduced as the new cheer coach in June 2015, Sugg, a former two-time state champion cheerleader as a flyer and a base, made the switch based on her vast knowledge of the intricacies of the sport.

“I chose to move back to competitive cheer because that is what I am most passionate about,” Sugg said in an earlier interview. “I lived for cheerleading and I want to bring it back. It was definitely a hard choice. It took a lot of convincing. Some of the girls on the team were not so sure about it, but after a lot of long talks with Kristi and letting them know how excited I am about it, most of us are all on the same page.”

Much like a football, basketball or softball team, communication, camaraderie and trust are major elements to a successful cheer team.

Along with Nanez, the team consists of Jordyn Hattenhauer, Tianna Smith, Kendyl Kumm, Meara Crawford, Abbey Helseth, Keagan Rice, Jodi Thomasian, Jenifer Salinas and seniors Lillia Chance, Alyssa Donnell and Taylor Sugg.

Cheer participants Bryonna Otzoy and Aileen Luna-Lopez represent two key alternates on this team.

Through all of the time spent in working on their craft, Nanez has been impressed with how well the team has unified.

“We just have to come together and trust our teammates and ourselves to give it all we have,” Nanez said. “Lillia Chance and Alyssa Donnell are some of our stronger bases and Taylor Sugg is one of our stronger flyers. They really inspire us to perfect our stunts.”

After this weekend, The Dalles performs in another state-prep competition on Jan. 30 at Clackamas High School.

Then the Riverhawks move on to state competition and the toughest challenge of all.

“I am extremely proud of my team and how far we have come this year,” Coach Sugg said. “We have been faced with many challenges, but it has made us stronger and made us come together more as a team. We have about three more weeks until state and we still have a lot of work to do, but I know that with hard work and dedication, we will be ready.”