Harrison Varsity Cheer Cinches Second Place in the Jackpine Conference Second Year in a Row

By ANGELA KELLOGG-HENRY

Cleaver Managing Editor

It’s somewhat of a given that Meridian Early College High School Competitive Cheer Team are the reigning champions in the Jackpine Conference. The Hornet Varsity Girls set their sights high to compete with the excellence set by the Meridian champions. At the Feb. 3 meet they took second place for the second year in a row out of five varsity teams competing.

Coach Shelby Battle outlined the rounds of competitive cheer the Hornet girls worked through at the meet.

“Competitive cheer consists of three rounds in high school competition,” said Battle. “We follow guidelines set in place by MHSAA and CCCAM. Round one is formations and jumps, and round 2 is a strict 10 count that changes every two years. The ladies will perform this and jumps and tumbling skills, and all must do the same in the round. Our round two consists of front walkovers, back walkovers, toe touch, and a herkie. Round 2 had five different skills they should be selected from three different categories: Flexibility, jumping and tumbling. Round 3 is stunting and tumbling; our ladies are tremendous at this.”

What’s a “herkie” one might ask? A herkie is a classic cheerleading jump featuring one leg straight out (toe touch position) and the other bent back with the knee facing down, often paired with a punch arm motion.

“This season ended round 1 with the point score of 192, round 2 with 183, and round 3 with a 249; in total 625.24. This was our highest score in round 1 and 2 we have had this season,” Battle said of their second-place win.

The Meridian Early College High School Competitive Cheer Team were Jackpine champions again this year with a high score of 747.1.

“Every competition we get better,” said coach Brittany Haskin. “Second place in the Jackpine conference is proof that hard work shows up when it matters.”