Cheering to first at US finals

The Owatonna youth cheerleading team – comprised of local sixth through ninth-grade athletes –  took home first place at the U.S. Finals in Kansas City last week after a wild string of events led the Huskies team to the winner’s circle.
After competing in the traditional recreation category of the regional tournament, the Huskies’ squad found out they had won the competition in a way that was anything but traditional.
“We were the last team to perform in the session, and results came pretty much immediately after we finished. Interestingly enough, they actually made a miscalculation when they were announcing all of the teams. They didn’t allow enough time for the judges to get their final scores in after our performance, and they actually announced another team as the winner,” said Owatonna Youth Cheer Head Coach Stephanie Hanson.
After initially accepting the results and leaving the competition venue with her team, Hanson said that she then received some shocking news on her phone.
“As some of the athletes and parents were starting to leave I received an email. As I was scrolling through, I was looking at all of the recreation teams and noticed that we were the highest score. I was trying to check that the scores were right, and I spent about a half-hour trying to track down the right person. When I found someone to talk to, they let me know that the computers hadn’t refreshed after our performance and that we were indeed the winners.”
After receiving the news, Hanson went to collect her team and bring them back to the venue where the entire squad was greeted with a championship banner and the coveted white jackets that come with winning first place.
According to Hanson, the team’s time together after receiving the news was filled with nothing, but pure happiness and relief following a long season of preparation.
In order to earn its way to Kansas City, Owatonna had to win the highest score at the NCA Classic in Minneapolis back in February.
The Huskies squad once again competed in the traditional recreation category of the competition, where teams are required to perform in a mixture of dance, stunting and traditional cheer.
In order to earn points and impress the judges, traditional recreation teams are evaluated on complex scales considering technique in dancing, stunting and the ability to lead an audience in a cheer.
While Hanson said she was extremely impressed by how her team performed in Minneapolis, she said she knew her team was going to have to take their game to the next level in order to compete at the top of the competition in Kansas City.
“When we won the Minneapolis competition, our choreographer, Patricia Kurtz, came up to me and said, ‘Okay, we are definitely going to step it up for the Kansas City competition.’ So she did rework a good chunk of our routine to make it harder and make our girls eligible to earn higher points in the competition.”
The gamble paid off for the Huskies, who were able to impress the judges and eventually take home first place.
While the first-place finish came with all of the spoils of victory, there was an even larger sense of accomplishment in the air as the squad celebrated.
“It was a huge relief because it felt like we had finally found our spot. This is where the girls could shine and show off all of their skills.”
Winning the U.S. Finals brought with it a sense of validation that the team could cherish after facing an uphill battle with funding and training over the season.
Even though cheerleading is recognized as an organized sport by the Owatonna Public School District, the sport is only recognized during school events – meaning that it does not help with funding competition at all-star events such as the U.S. Finals.
Fortunately for Owatonna, the team’s win at the NCA Classic earned it a “Golden Ticket,” which covered all expenses toward helping the team compete in Kansas City.
However, Kansas City may not be the team’s last hoorah for the season.
With the U.S. finals being part of a 12 city regional circuit, the top-scoring teams in their respective levels will receive a video of their performance that will ultimately be sent to judges at the NCA for final evaluation to decide an outright winner for the U.S. Nationals.
Based on its performance in Kansas City, Owatonna is eligible to win the national title and break even more new ground in the team’s seventh year of competition.
Results from the national competition – which will just feature video evaluation and no in-person performances – are pending as judges from the NCA decide the fate of youth cheer squads around the nation.
According to Hanson, a win at nationals would be something of a cherry on top of an already incredible season.