The Broadus Hawk Cheer Squad, placed third in Montana Class C at Cheerfest in Lewistown last weekend. They are pictured above left to right: Madisyn Kramme, Kaytlin Fairbank, Zoe Page, Tenley Yonkee, and Rachel Rosencranz. (Photo courtesy Kate Ruland)
By Kate Ruland
Cheerfest is an annual cheerleading competition that has been held in Lewistown for the past 20 plus years. This year 25 teams, over 310 contestants merged together for an action packed day at Fergus High School, AA, A, B and C schools competed.
Our Hawk cheerleaders competed for their very 1st time in a cheer competition, having barely seen any other cheerleaders all winter season.
A routine is scored in several different categories including: overall crowd appeal, use of signs, voice- Loud and clear- effectiveness of cheer and crowd appeal, facial expressions, stunt difficulty and execution, Jump difficulty and execution, tumbling difficulty and execution (only skills above a round off are counted), dance sharpness and choreography, formation and level changes, spacing and use of entire floor, and synchronization. A group of six to eight judges works to score the teams on these factors. Broadus received zero deductions!
The Hawk Cheerleaders were awarded 3rd place in Class C for all their efforts. The Class C placing was: 1st place Centerville Miners, 2nd place Forsyth Dogies, 3rd place Broadus Hawks and 4th place was the Harlowton Engineers. We had one of the smallest teams and by far the youngest High School team there. We are very proud of them.
After team competition was complete, the Hawks had 2 girls compete in the all class jump off. Tenley Yonkee and Rachel Rosencranz showcased their amazing jumping skills. We then watched and cheered on the basket toss competition and the all class tumbling competition.
The next morning we had the opportunity to go work with college cheerleaders and coaches for Rocky Mountain College, Montana State University and Dickinson State University. The team had a great time and learned several new skills. The coaches and college cheerleaders commented on what a great little team we have.
Work is now underway to get a true state competition organized in Montana so that cheer will have a MHSA state competition, just like all the other sports. Cheer has evolved tremendously in the past 20 years and the bar just keeps getting raised higher and higher. Our cheer team is already talking about next year. The team is coached by Amy Minow and Kate Ruland.
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