Usually, cheerleaders are on the sidelines. On Saturday, they had the opportunity to be center stage.
"It's a nice change," said Grand Forks Red River senior Haley Bina, who won the individual jump division in the high school state meet. "I enjoy cheering, but this is a lot more fun."
Bina is an even 5-foot and probably not even in triple figures for weight, but she wore the bruises of a linebacker. Where her skin wasn't black-and-blue, it was red from ice packs.
She was more fortunate than teammate Gabby Maddock, who broke a wrist earlier in the week when a stunt went awry in practice. Red River, a perennial upper-tier cheer squad in the state, still managed to place second behind West Fargo in the North Dakota Cheer Coaches Association's fall competition.
The event at the Red River gym was watched by more than 900 ticket-buyers, filling one side of the bleachers and part of the other. Although participants are all members of fall season sports cheer squads, the competition is more like gymnastics in skirts.
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It's about pyramids, cartwheels, jumps, lifts and stunts -- with aptly named "fliers" being tossed about, twisting and turning before being cradled by their teammates. "Some of girls who are fliers get a little scared, but not as much as their parents do," Red River Coach Sarah Abrahamson said.
"The girls make it look easy, but that's only because of all the man-hours they log in practice."
Or, more appropriately, woman-hours. There wasn't a male among the 270 participants who had matching hair ribbons to go with their matching uniforms. Several of the events were performed to music, which was on the "jet engine" volume setting.
Despite the ear-splitting volume, the four-hour competition had a similar feel to other high school sporting events, including three college recruiters in the crowd and the 50-50 drawing. Missing were athletes cheering on the cheerleaders.
Reach Bakken at (701) 780-1125; (800) 477-6572, ext. 125; or send e-mail to rbakken@gfherald.com .
