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For Immediate Release 14 March 2003
WINSTON
SALEM, N.C. – The Southwest Baptist Spirit Squad will
compete in the Christian Cheerleaders of America National
Championships on March 15. The Bearcat squad will compete
in the College Division starting at 6:20 p.m. in at the M.C.
Benton Convention and Civic Center in Winston Salem, N.C.
“We are excited to compete and to represent Southwest
Baptist University,” said SBU Co-Head Coach Alan Hale.
“Our No. 1 squad goal is to glorify God in preparation
and performance. We have gotten experience from doing games
and being in front of crowds and preparing for national competition
helps our performances throughout the year.”
The squad leaves early Friday morning to fly to North Carolina
for the competition on Saturday. Despite having one male on
the squad, the team will compete in the all-female competition.
The rules allow one male to be on the competition mat during
the performance. Fifteen cheerleaders and B.C. the Bearcat
will compete. Chris Bass and Kristen Jobe will compete in
the Coed Partner Stunt competition and five women will take
part in the All-Girls Stunt Team. They are Megan Isringhausen,
Kiley Detwiler, Jane Miller, Danielle Burns and Courtney Anding.
“They are ready to go now,” Hale said. “We’ve
done all the practice we can. Now is when it gets exciting.
The fundraising pressure is off, the reservations have been
made and now we are able to focus on the team and getting
the ready for competition on Saturday. They’ve put in
all this work for months to perform for two minutes. They
can handle the pressure.”
The number of squads competing in the national championships
will be unknown until registration time because it is an open
competition. During the high school competition, schools will
be represented from 18 different states.
SBU coaches Alan and Shayla Hale see this as a great recruiting
opportunity.
“This is an excellent chance for us to see the great
talented cheerleaders across the nation and try to recruit
some of them to help our squad with their competition background
and skill level,” Alan Hale said. “However, the
big thing is getting SBU’s name out there. We are offering
a Cheer Scholar award at the banquet Friday night and we will
have a booth at the site of competition that will help us
to publicize SBU.”
The squad started in August working on preparation for the
competition.
“I’m really impressed with how the squad has responded
to what we have put them through,” Hale said. “Through
a lot of hard work and practice hours, each one of them has
responded better than ever. We have a great squad. Some are
very talented at what they do and some have a big enough heart
to overcome any absence of talent. What is missing has been
made up for with hard work and desire. Their work ethic made
them all into great cheerleaders and I have full confidence
in them going into this weekend.”
The last time an SBU squad competed in a national competition
was in the early 1990s. The best finish by an SBU squad, sixth,
came during that stint of competition.
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