Spreading Cheer Throughout the Year

One of the aspects of sports that sets it apart from other forms of entertainment is the crowd participation. Fans ride the highs and the lows of their team's season, forming a deep attachment to the athletes and anticipating the outcome each year offers.

Leading those crowds in supporting their teams in Glasgow is the Scottie Cheer Squad. While most athletes fear being banished to the sidelines, these athletes embrace their position and their role in supporting their fellow Scotties on the field, the court, the cross country tracks and on the cheer mats.

Senior cheerleader McKenna Strommen said the best part of cheer for her is "definitely being able to support our teammates – I should say our peers, our school people. It's being able to support our friends on the court playing the games that they love and trying to get them to state and to succeed in their games. And we get to share that joy with them."

He'Lena Deavila added that for her "watching our line-ups come together as we struggle and people for so many times. And the once we finally get together it's very satisfying. It's quite an accomplishment. Everybody's happy."

She added, "And on top of what McKenna said, sometimes we don't have a student section and we are the the student section. So it's nice that our teams always have some level of support no matter what."

Strommen, Deavila and Brianna Nybakken are the senior leaders on the winter cheer squad. Between them, they have 20 seasons of experience. Strommen has four years with the cheer squad while Deavila and Nybakken have three years each.

Their coach, Jordan Dunlap, is in her first year in the head position for Glasgow. Last year she served as the assistant coach. Dunlap came to Glasgow from Helena where she had eight years experience in competitive cheer and a background in gymnastics before that.

Turn an eye towards the baseline during basketball warmups or to the track during football warmups and you'll see the Scottie cheer squad dancing a long to the pep band or music over the loudspeakers. Each year those dances are new. Dunlap is the squad's choreographer and teaches her rotating crew of cheerleaders the moves each season.

Beyond that, she guides the team through their aerobatic performances, trust exercises on steroids to the casual observer. Like any team, the cheer squad has their positions to be filled – base, flyer and spotters.

All three of the seniors laughed when asked how difficult it is to overcome the fear of being vaulted into the air by their fellow team members. But the leaders have found in their experience that team work is essential to their craft and their teammates give them the confidence to keep going after a fall.

"When you first hit the ground, for the first time, all the fear goes away. But after that it take a bit to be able to do it again and not have that fear," Strommen explained. "But then the more you do it, the more you realize they're going to catch you."

Deavila was quick to add, "And when you do hit the floor they're very supportive of you and help you up and make sure you're ok ... it doesn't happen very often but it takes a lot of trust."

She went on to explain the reliance on each other during stunts. "It takes the whole team. Your flyer has to be tight and clean. Your bases have to be tight and sturdy. Your spotters have to make sure people aren't' falling. It can't be just one person. It take the whole team."

This year will bring a new experience for the cheerleaders: Cheerfest in Lewistwon. As the three explained, none of them have attended before. The Coronavirus canceled the event two years ago and last year's virtual event was cost-prohibitive. The Scottie team will choreograph a halftime routine to be performed at tournaments and at the festival.

In addition to planning for the big event, the seniors are looking to their underclassmen cheerleaders to step into leadership roles. As they explained, their fall squad had eight seniors and the winter squad has a lot of upperclassmen. "We need younger classmates to take over."

They highlighted freshman Jovee Morehouse as a potential future leader for the team and expressed hope that she would stick with it and "take a leadership role when new people join when she is the most experienced one."

In looking at the future, the three seniors each have different plans, though Nybakken said, "I don't know if any of us want to cheer in college."

Instead they talked of the rest of their season. As to her Scottie peers, Strommen told the Courier, "The team's win is always our win too. If the team doesn't win, we feel it. We're just as upset as they are." She explained that even if cheerleaders don't wear the same uniform or share the court, they are there to support their peers. "We're going to cheer for you even if you're losing."

To the Scottie fans, Deavila implored, "Join us please! If we're cheering please join us and be loud." She added, "We really encourage people to help us cheer on the Scotties at all times. We love hearing that feedback when we're calling out and we have a big crowd, 'Give me a G!'"

So when the Scottie cheer squad returns to the court alongside their Glasgow athletes, be sure to join them with the ultimate support. After all in the words of the Scottie cheer seniors, "Scotties [are] the ultimate team..." and they deserve the ultimate support.

Scottie Varsity Cheerleaders

Winter 2021-2022 Season

Jovee Morehouse

McKenna Strommen

Haylly Turner

M.E. Cunningham

Shawna Buckles

Reannah Hopstad

Sam Tryan

Tommi Prewett

Brianna Nybakken

He'Lena Deavila

Carlos Gonzales

Coach: Jordan Dunlap