KELLOGG – Brr… It’s cold in here, there must be Wildcats in the at-mos-sphere – we may be paraphrasing the immortal words of Kirsten Dunst (or Gabrielle Union, depending on which side you’re on), but the Kellogg High School cheerleaders “brought it” nonetheless.
Recently, the KHS cheerleaders, under the skilled tutelage of coaches Sarah and Lori Sawyer, won first place in several categories in cheering competitions over two weekends.
“We took them all first. We won five first places in two weekends. They worked hard,” Sarah said. “There was a lot of blood, sweat, tears and wounds.”
The team competed in the Timberlake Tiger Tournament at Timberlake High School on the weekend of January 14 and the Prairie Classic Tournament at Lakeland High School on January 21.
KHS Senior Nate Turner competed and placed first in the play-off competition against all Junior and Senior Boys 1A-5A, receiving scores on variety/difficulty of jumps, height and flexibility, and technique.
The team participated in the Pom routine as a group, with a remixed version of Charli XCX’s “Bloom Clap” as backup music. Pom has a maximum time limit of one minute and includes a variety of moves, dances, jumps, formation changes, and undulations. During this competition, cheerleaders must hold their pom poms for most of the routine and score on a total point system.
“The show’s routine is two and a half minutes long and consists of pom poms, signs, formation changes, stunts, somersaults, jumps, dances, cheers and crowd involvement,” Sawyer said. .
You can see the team in action this Friday, cheering on the Kellogg Wildcats when they take on their Central Idaho League rivals, the Priest River Spartans, at 7 p.m. inside Andrews Gymnasium.
“Districts is this weekend, but we have basketball to cheer on,” Sawyer said. “We have a few injuries from the hard work of the teams, so that’s our goal for next year. Along with encouraging all the other sports, they are training to learn and practice these very intense routines. They have had lessons, training and/or matches six days a week for the past two months.”
