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Dell Rapids Wraps Up Great 24-Hour Run With Cheer Title
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| The Dell Rapids cheer team completes its final stunt during Saturday’s State Cheer and Dance competion at the Summit Activities Center. Dell Rapids’ cheer squad went on to win its division with a score of 214 points. (Shauna Marlette/P&D) |
School Among Champs At State Meet In Yankton
by Shauna Marlette
shauna.marlette@yankton.net
When most people think of cheerleaders, they picture five or so girls standing either court side or on the sidelines of the football field using their voices to support their school teams. Saturday, that picture was shattered during the second annual State Cheer and Dance Championships, held at the Summit and Activity Center.
Dell Rapids High School used the event to cap off an amazing 24 hours by winning the Class A small team cheer stunting and tumbling division, defending their title from last year, with the football team winning the 11A football title Friday night.
“I think everybody is very excited,” said Dell Rapids cheer coach Magen Richeal. “It is our first football championship and all seven of the football cheerleaders are also on the competition cheer team, so they were all there Friday night. It was just a great weekend. I think everybody just has a lot of Dell Rapids pride right now.”
Hillary McQuad one of two seniors on the Dell Rapids competitive cheer squad was estatic about the double championships.
“It is a great way to start our year,” she said. “It is a great way to end my final season of cheer, it feels awesome. The football players have been very great for supporting us this year in cheer. They all wished us luck in the competition and they have been great.”
The process of developing a competitive cheer routine does not just happen the week before the competition.
“I actually start choreographing next year’s routine right now,” Richeal said. “It is sort of an all year process. I change things here and there and it just keeps evolving. Then in August, when our season starts, we take two weeks to learn the routine. Our stunting starts out not as hard and then we progress adding difficulty throughout the year. The thing I stress is getting down what we are going to perform. I stress cleanliness and being clean in our routine.”
Richeal also noted that with the competitive cheer and dance being such a young sport in the state, the coaches and teams are learning a lot as they go forward.
“This year, we had one girl who broke her arm. She was able to compete, but couldn't do any of the stunting, so we had to change our routine about three weeks before state,” Richeal said. “We did deal with injury, but we do our best and luckily, we were able to pull it off. I have great girls that we were able to intermix and make it work.”
After the football team won its title Friday night, the girls on the cheer team stepped up to the pressure and completed a great routine.
“Not only the girls, but some of the fans as well, were commenting ‘Wouldn't it be great to win both the football and the cheer championships?’” Richeal said. “It probably added to the nerves. Just the fact that it was a state event and that we were defending our title was a lot of pressure. I think the girls just really felt like we needed to get that first place.”
McQuad never doubted that the Quarriers would do well at the state meet.
“We expected to do pretty well, we had competed against the people we were facing before so we kind of knew what to expect,” she said.
Her coach also had high expectations.
“Our final score was 214,” she said. “We really compare ourselves with those AA schools. It is hard to, because we are a small squad and they are large squads. When you look at the fact that some of those squads have 20 or more people and we only have 10, and we scored right up with them, it was a huge accomplishment.”
Richeal also noted that the growth in the competition has been tremendous even in just one year.
“There was a lot less competition last year,” she said. “The number of teams competing have almost doubled this year. It was a lot more exciting and a lot more went into it this year. It was a lot more nerve-racking this year.”
Both McQuad and Richeal see the competition in cheer and dance growing into a huge sport in the state. McQuad even noted that it is something she may be able to tack onto her career in the future.
“I am actually going to major in education in college, so being a cheer coach would be something I would love to look at for the future,” she said. “I have thought about it a lot and it is definitely something I enjoy doing and want to pursue.”
Richeal sees cheer and dance as a huge advantage for the girls in the state and is looking forward to seeing the sport grow.
“I think it is so exciting that South Dakota is recognizing cheer and dance,” she said. “I think that anything that has kids working together for a common goal and using teamwork is a great life skill.”
Dell Rapids High School used the event to cap off an amazing 24 hours by winning the Class A small team cheer stunting and tumbling division, defending their title from last year, with the football team winning the 11A football title Friday night.
“I think everybody is very excited,” said Dell Rapids cheer coach Magen Richeal. “It is our first football championship and all seven of the football cheerleaders are also on the competition cheer team, so they were all there Friday night. It was just a great weekend. I think everybody just has a lot of Dell Rapids pride right now.”
Hillary McQuad one of two seniors on the Dell Rapids competitive cheer squad was estatic about the double championships.
“It is a great way to start our year,” she said. “It is a great way to end my final season of cheer, it feels awesome. The football players have been very great for supporting us this year in cheer. They all wished us luck in the competition and they have been great.”
The process of developing a competitive cheer routine does not just happen the week before the competition.
“I actually start choreographing next year’s routine right now,” Richeal said. “It is sort of an all year process. I change things here and there and it just keeps evolving. Then in August, when our season starts, we take two weeks to learn the routine. Our stunting starts out not as hard and then we progress adding difficulty throughout the year. The thing I stress is getting down what we are going to perform. I stress cleanliness and being clean in our routine.”
Richeal also noted that with the competitive cheer and dance being such a young sport in the state, the coaches and teams are learning a lot as they go forward.
“This year, we had one girl who broke her arm. She was able to compete, but couldn't do any of the stunting, so we had to change our routine about three weeks before state,” Richeal said. “We did deal with injury, but we do our best and luckily, we were able to pull it off. I have great girls that we were able to intermix and make it work.”
After the football team won its title Friday night, the girls on the cheer team stepped up to the pressure and completed a great routine.
“Not only the girls, but some of the fans as well, were commenting ‘Wouldn't it be great to win both the football and the cheer championships?’” Richeal said. “It probably added to the nerves. Just the fact that it was a state event and that we were defending our title was a lot of pressure. I think the girls just really felt like we needed to get that first place.”
McQuad never doubted that the Quarriers would do well at the state meet.
“We expected to do pretty well, we had competed against the people we were facing before so we kind of knew what to expect,” she said.
Her coach also had high expectations.
“Our final score was 214,” she said. “We really compare ourselves with those AA schools. It is hard to, because we are a small squad and they are large squads. When you look at the fact that some of those squads have 20 or more people and we only have 10, and we scored right up with them, it was a huge accomplishment.”
Richeal also noted that the growth in the competition has been tremendous even in just one year.
“There was a lot less competition last year,” she said. “The number of teams competing have almost doubled this year. It was a lot more exciting and a lot more went into it this year. It was a lot more nerve-racking this year.”
Both McQuad and Richeal see the competition in cheer and dance growing into a huge sport in the state. McQuad even noted that it is something she may be able to tack onto her career in the future.
“I am actually going to major in education in college, so being a cheer coach would be something I would love to look at for the future,” she said. “I have thought about it a lot and it is definitely something I enjoy doing and want to pursue.”
Richeal sees cheer and dance as a huge advantage for the girls in the state and is looking forward to seeing the sport grow.
“I think it is so exciting that South Dakota is recognizing cheer and dance,” she said. “I think that anything that has kids working together for a common goal and using teamwork is a great life skill.”
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