LaFayette cheer squad looking to build on last season
LaFayette High School competition cheerleading squad lost nine seniors from last year’s team that finished fourth in Region 6-AAAA and made a return trip to the state meet.
And while head coach Nicole Harris termed the 2017 something of a “rebuilding” one, she said she still believes this squad as all the potential in the world to be solid once again.
“When you have that big of a number (graduate), that’s a lot of experience to lose,” she said. “But there’s really not many new cheerleaders to the team. We are only putting 14 on the floor this year and we have five seniors, who are all great. They work hard and they are all dedicated. I think (the seniors) have stepped up to try and lead us in the area where we need to build.
“The determination of our squad is high this year. It just might take us a little longer to get there.”
Harris is counting on the leadership of her seniors Allie Durham, Addison Alexander, Deshia Dew, Desiree Langston and Gracie Freeman, along with a junior class consisting of Aubrey Steadman, Mya Quershi and Chelsey Durham.
The sophomore class includes JuliAnna Harris, Jordyn Meeks, Carrie Jane Purcell. Kailen Brown and Alexis Keown, while Sydney Parker is the squad’s lone freshman.
“I feel good about our tumbling, but stunting is the main thing we’re focusing on,” Harris said. “It’s our biggest challenge this year. We’re all a small-sized squad, but we’re working to add difficulty in our stunts. I don’t think we’re where we will need to be for region just yet, but we’re getting there.”
Harris said there won’t be many major changes in her squad’s routine, save for the pyramid.
“The pyramid is probably above and beyond anything we’ve ever done before,” she explained. “There are lots of structures and a
lot of difficulty in it. If we can pull that off, that will be a victory in my eyes.”
She added that her team’s goal is to finish higher at the region meet than they did a year ago. And while a state rules change will allow every squad to go to state this year, regardless of region finish, Harris said
her squad wants to have another good performance in Columbus like they did in 2016.
“We’re super stoked to be going back to state,” she added. “We ended last year on a good note and hit a solid performance at state. We weren’t happy with our scores (at state), but we were happy with the performance. But we really want to do better at region so that we’ll be prepared for state.”