Evolving cheer and dance programs experience early-season success
LOGAN DEMOND
Staff Writer
The Bethel College Cheer and Dance programs are making big moves. Earning top-ten finishes in their first performances of the season, these programs are making their marks in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) and there are no signs of slowing down. The Bethel College Cheer team is coming off a 2021 conference championship, and the dance team has climbed its way up the standings each year since its inception. Both programs, however, have fought their way to where they are now.
Despite its recent success, the Thresher Cheer program is only ten years old. Joseph Gogus, current head coach, joined the program in 2014. Having started two weeks before the school year began, Gogus had just four athletes on the roster and three recruits. In his eight years, Gogus has led the Threshers to three KCAC championships, cementing his legacy at Bethel College.
The Thresher Dance program began in Fall 2019 and has gained a member each year since. Head Coach Kiley McCord stepped in last winter and preaches the praises of her team’s improvement.
“This team just has the ability to learn quicker and put higher-level skills in their routines…This year we’ve already changed and upgraded our routine to try to gain points. Last year, based on team abilities, that would not have been possible,” McCord said.
Though McCord is immensely proud of her team’s progress and potential, she recognizes and outlines the difficulties of recruiting dancers to a small college.
“I’m learning the ropes on recruiting…realizing how challenging it is to get dancers who want to continue dancing in college, also getting them interested in Bethel, filling out paperwork, and pushing them to make decisions. It’s also a challenge to find skilled dancers who are not just interested in going D1,” said McCord.
Most recently, both programs saw success in the fifth annual Thresher Invitational. Hosted in Thresher Gym, this two-day event saw community members, parents and students in attendance, as well as two out-of-state schools having traveled to North Newton. Thresher Gym was rocking as music blared between performances and the crowd partook in stadium shenanigans.
The first night of competition saw both dance and cheer performances, respectively. The Thresher Dance team kicked off the evening with a dazzling dance consisting of jazz, pom (sharp movements that could be performed using pom-poms) and hip hop. This same dance will be performed throughout the season with changes added before each competition to add complexity. As the difficulty of the dance increases, so will score totals. Following six more dances and lots of energy in the stands, the Threshers finished fifth out of seven teams with a score of 55.95. St. Ambrose University walked away with a first-place finish on night one, having scored 77.26.
Following the conclusion of night one dances, the mats rolled out, as did the cheerleaders. Fifth in the lineup, the Threshers took the stage and tumbled their way to a jaw-dropping performance that saw countless aerial stunts, which left them in third place (75.71) behind Hastings College and St. Ambrose University (88.73). With St. Ambrose having swept night one, both Thresher squads were hungry for day two, packed with even more competition.
Day two started with a bang as Thresher Gym was packed with excited fans and athletes. Both the cheer and dance programs were set to perform twice. With cheer up first, Bethel brought the heat in its first performance, but saw a score of just 75, followed by another stellar performance from the dance team (55.36). Neither team placed first in the first half of the day and needed to bring their A game to compete with a highly talented slate of teams in the afternoon.
Afternoon totals dropped again for both Bethel squads. Thresher Cheer finished fourth overall on Saturday (71.63) out of twelve teams, and Thresher Dance finished seventh with a final performance score of 54.88. St. Ambrose walked away from Thresher Gym with four trophies. Despite the drop in scores, the Thresher Dance squad placed higher in their second outing of the day. Senior Evelyn Manresa expressed her emotions following the competition.
“I’m so proud of our team and everything we have accomplished. After the first few competitions I’m feeling very confident and am grateful to be part of a team filled with such hardworking women. I am really looking forward to competing at conference this year,” said Manresa.
Despite a third and fourth place finish, sophomore cheerleader Jayci Mastre expressed optimism, as well.
“I feel like we could have done better but I felt that we gave it our all. I know that as a team we left everything out on that mat. Mistakes were made but we take them to practice and learn from it to get better for conference in two weeks!”
Overall, the Thresher Invitational was a success according to parents and athletes who commented on the energy and atmosphere created in Thresher Gym.
“It was such a fun environment filled with positivity. The music, interaction with the crowd, and the announcer made the wait times a lot more interesting and fun, too,” said Evie Bartley (Newton, KS), a freshman on the Baker Dance team.
The Threshers will be returning to Thresher Gym once more this season, this time for conference competition. The same atmosphere will be created but the final standings are sure to change for both up-and-coming programs.
