Bethel cheer and dance hosts annual Thresher Invitational
Thresher cheer finished 10th both days; dance finished 7th and 8th respectively.
On Friday and Saturday, the Bethel cheer and dance teams hosted the 2024 edition of the annual Thresher Invitational in Thresher Gym. The Thresher cheer team finished 10th on both days, as the dance team finished 7th on day one of the competition and 8th on day two.
“It's nice to be able to compete at home, so local parents can come and enjoy themselves,” said head dance coach Kiley McCord. “We also had a good weekend of team bonding where everyone from the team had a role.”
The competition was set and started Friday evening. The dance portion was up first, as seven teams were competing. Bethel’s dance team was coming out of a second-place finish at the Coyote classic earlier this season.
“The team did well at putting their best on the floor,” said McCord, “ We have a small team this year, but we continue to grow our skills each time we compete.”
The scoring for dance is based on 11 different categories that must be completed. Bethel would be the second dance team to perform on the night. The dancers would perform their routine once, as Friday was only a one-time performance for the judges. The dance team would end day one with a score of 41.97 and placed 7th.
For Friday night on the cheer side, there were 12 teams competing on day one of the Thresher Invitational. The home squad would be the first cheer team to go out and perform and show their routine. It was Bethel's first time on the mat this year and would be the first time they performed a new routine fully.
“I think this season is all a learning experience,” said senior Sierra Rudman from Augusta. “We are all stepping into new roles and growing as athletes. I’m excited to see where our growth will take us.”
With this being Bethel's first competition all year, there were a lot of positives to be taken out of day one. The team ended with a score of 56.16 and finished in 10th place on day one.
“Even though we faced a lot of obstacles, we came together as a team,” said Rudman. “We lifted each other up and said anything is possible.”
For day two, cheer kicked things off with 11 teams competing. Day two was composed of two performances for cheer, one early in the morning and one early in the afternoon. Both performances would go towards their final scores on the final day.
“What I was able to get out of this weekend was seeing my team adapt to the challenges,” senior Michayla Contreras from Las Cruces, N.M. said. “The team adapted and was ready to make changes; in my experience with past teams in the program, we've struggled to make changes right before.”
During this invitational, the cheer team made improvements after every single one of their performances. At the end of day two, the cheer team finished with a score of 62.1, putting them in 10th for the second straight night.
“The last competitions that are left are at York and conference at Friends,” said Contreras. “ I think we will be able to make upgrades to our difficulty and take what the judges said and apply it to the routine.”
On day two of the dance side of the competition, nine teams were competing. The dance teams followed what cheer did earlier and each performed their routine once in the morning and once in the afternoon.
“Something I was able to get out of this competition is being able to step out of my comfort zone,” said sophomore Day Wilkes from St. Louis, Mo. “I feel like the team did good we showed up and showed out; we won in our eyes because it’s so much and so little we can do with four people.”
During the competition, the dance team was also able to improve as their scores went up from day one to day two. After all three of their performances had concluded by the end of the weekend, there were major improvements on the score sheet placing 8th with a score of 43.6.
“I expect us to keep giving it our all like we have been doing since day one,” said Wilkes. “I also see the rest of the season getting ready for next year so we can come back bigger and better as long as we keep believing in each other.”
The cheer team will be back on the mat on Saturday as they travel to York, Neb. to compete. The dance team will be back on the floor on March 6 for the KCAC competition.