By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
As high school athletic activities around the state returned to a sense of normalcy in recent months, the Mt. Edgecumbe Braves cheer team got to compete in a travel tournament last week in Anchorage.
The state cheer competition was part conducted alongside the state basketball championships.
It was Eliana Hutch’s first time competing at the state level, and she found “it was really cool… Everyone was cheering each other on. Any time a routine was happening or even when a team was warming up on the court everyone was cheering for them,” the junior from Chistochina said.
Hailey Moses, a senior from Fairbanks, agreed with her teammate.
The Mt. Edgecumbe High cheer team poses for a photo during the Eastern Conference basketball tournament in early March on the MEHS campus. Standing in the back from left are Emma Duncan, Olivia Duncan, Hailey Moses, Evelyn Garfield, Eliana Hatch, Neveah George and Lena Robertson. Kneeling in the front from left are Leah Williams-Shimanek, Dakota Kelly and Denia Foster.
(Photo provided by Marni Bauder/MEHS)
“They were really supportive, all the other cheer teams, and that was really cool to experience… During the cheer competition it was really upbeat and fun and during the game it was kind of crazy because there were a lot of people,” she said.
Up north, she recalled feeling nervous prior to the competition.
“It was just making sure everyone was there and everyone had all their stuff,” Moses said. “We were trying to stay calm because right before you’re about to go cheer in front of the whole gym, everyone was definitely kind of antsy and nervous.”
Under the structure of the newly formed Eastern Conference, both the Mt. Edgecumbe and Sitka high school cheer teams competed in the of the competition remain unpublished because of a dispute over scoring.
“There’s been a lot of controversy from other coaches, and I think part of it is that they have not done it for so long that it was different… There are a lot of coaches who are protesting, there were a lot of mistakes on the score sheets,” Edgecumbe coach Marni Bauder said.
The lack of scoring didn’t bother Moses.
“I’m not really bothered about that – I want to have fun, senior year. I really enjoy the sport,” she said.
However the team ranks in the end, Hutch was happy with how the team’s routine went.
“I don’t care about our score because I think in our routine we did really well, overall as a team we all were putting everything else aside… I want to know our ranking because it would be cool to know,” Hutch said. “There were seven teams in our division so if we got top five, that would be nice to know and it would show them there’s a reason we’re doing all this.”
Moses was happy with the team’s growth through the season.
“We were all really in sync, just watching everybody throughout the season grow and be more confident and just seeing everyone come together was really cool,” she said.
Of Edgecumbe’s ten cheerleaders, seven are new to the sport. After three years on the team, Hutch said the squad this year remained positive despite difficulties.
“Even if we got seventh place out of seven teams, I don’t care. It was so fun to go to state with this team. Out of the past three years… I feel like it’s been the most positive team, the most positive experience for me,” the junior said.
The coach said that so far, the only rankings released from the state competition were for the first and second place winners. Kenai Central took first, followed by Hutchison High.
When the team competed at the regional tournament in early March, the athletes performed their stunts in front of a live crowd but were also required to film themselves.
“This year their routines for regions, even though we perform them in front of an audience, to get them judged we had to submit them on video,” Bauder said. “Super strange and it was very, very difficult. Last year was virtual also but it was us in an empty gym. This year we had to record it during the games.”
