Cheers! Roles reversed during cheer competition

ANCHORAGE -- Like cheerleaders everywhere, the Colony High School cheerleaders cheered for their school's football players all fall. But Nov. 6 and 7 the roles were reversed, as many of those football players came out to cheer for them at the Alaska State Cheerleading Competition at West High School in Anchorage. Donning green body paint with the initials of various Colony cheerleaders emblazoned on their chests and waving signs of green and black, the Colony football players and fans drew almost as much attention as the nearly flawless performance of the Colony Knights' varsity cheerleading squad.

"They looked so cool!" said 12-year-old Kelsey Boss of Wasilla.

And, she said, the cheerleaders were awesome.

Despite their performance, the Knights placed second to the Bartlett Bears -- an impressive finish by most standards. But to the Knights, who have enjoyed six years as state champions, second place was less than they had hoped for.

"I'm not sure what I'm feeling now," said Kristy Johnston, Colony's head cheerleading coach. Johnston was recognized as coach of the year at the competition based on a nomination letter submitted by the Colony cheerleaders. She received a $1,000 scholarship to attend a national education event.

"I'm really proud of the way the girls performed. I feel like they performed their 100-percent best," she said.

In addition to placing second in the medium-varsity-division team competition, Colony won first place for jumps in the overall competition.

"That was the one thing we knew we did," said one of CHS's varsity squad co-captains, Abby Tracy, 17. "It's exciting to win something we know we deserve."

And two of Colony's varsity cheerleaders placed among the top 10 in the senior-division's individual competition. Sophomore Tiffany McManus placed fifth and Amy Stoppa, also a sophomore, placed seventh.

But Colony wasn't the only cheerleading squad from the Valley earning top honors in the competition.

For the second year in a row, the Denali All-Stars, a competition and performance squad from Wasilla's Denali Gymnastics Academy, won first place in the overall competition. And the All-Stars scored first place overall in the gymnastics and stunting portion of the competition as well.

Denali All-Stars' Jessica Miller and Katy Cook won first and second place, respectively, in the junior-division individual competition. Both girls attend Colony Middle School.

"I thought I did pretty good, but so did Katy," Miller said. "She had good jumps and tumbling, and she had a good dance."

The All-Stars' Kelly Keane, who also cheers for Chugiak High School, took second place in the senior-division individual competition, winning a $500 scholarship. And All-Stars' Rebecca Childers, a junior at Colony High School, placed third.

Though Childers has competed as a gymnast on Denali Gymnastics Academy's girls'-competition team since 2000, this is the 16-year-old's first season as a cheerleader.

"It was surprising," Childers said of her third-place finish. "I didn't think I'd get anything."

But Leon Reynolds, one of the All-Stars' coaches, says the sort of rigorous training gymnasts like Childers go through is just the sort of training today's cheerleaders need to compete successfully.

"[Cheerleaders] have become very competitive and incredibly athletic. It's not just a popularity contest anymore," Reynolds said.

The All-Stars also took first place in the All-Star division, Five-Man-Stunt-partner-group competition, as well as in the co-ed, partner-stunt-group competition.

Denali All-Stars' Colby Nielson, placed 10th in the senior-division individual competition. Nielson, along with his sister Bridgette, cheers for both the Denali All-Stars and the Palmer Moose.

Palmer took first place in the small co-ed portion of the competition. And the Moose won first place in the overall dance competition.

"We felt really good about our dance. We just went out there to have a lot of fun," Nielson said.

Wasilla High School's junior-varsity squad scored third place in the junior-varsity division of the team competition. And Colony Middle School won first place in the junior-high team competition.

In all, 354 cheerleaders competed in the two-day event. Dana Byert, the National Cheerleaders Association's director of regional competitions, said that about 90 percent of those cheerleaders received bids to attend NCA's national competition in Dallas in December. Byert works in Dallas but came to Anchorage to serve as a judge for the Alaska State Cheerleading Competition.

Both she and another judge, NCA head instructor Shannon Stotz from San Diego, Calif., say it's unusual for so many cheerleaders to qualify at one state competition. They credit the Alaska cheerleaders' success to their positive attitudes.

"The sportsmanship and unity between all the teams is amazing here. That's just what we like to see in cheerleaders," Stotz said.