Chris Caporale, sports@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader Photo by Chris Caporale Shawano Community High School senior Alli Raddant is one of four four-year cheerleaders looking to close out the year with a strong showing Saturday at regionals in Waupaca and at state Feb. 27 in Madison. Catching her are, from left, Kale McHugh, Joe Willkomm and Evan Siahaan.
Despite some unique challenges this season, Shawano Community High School’s cheerleading team has the highest of expectations prior to Saturday’s regional competition in Waupaca.
Roughly half of the athletes are in their first season with the sport, and with nine guys on the team, the Hawks have moved up to the large coed division of competition, requiring more sophisticated routines and stunts.
“Because it’s such a connected sport, you can’t just pull a person out and be expected to do what you do. Plus, it’s not safe,” Shawano head coach Mary Kast said. “The second we put a new person into stunt something, it’s not as safe as it was before, and it takes time to build that confidence when you’re going up in the air that this girl beneath me, or this guy, is not going to let me fall.”
That confidence has been built up over the course of the past three months. Tryouts were held immediately after football season ended.
The Hawks’ first competition was Jan. 9 in Appleton, where they took second. The next day they traveled to Stevens Point, where they place first. Last weekend, in Wisconsin Dells, Shawano finished in second and won the sportsmanship award.
The state cheerleading competition is Feb. 27 in Madison.
As the routines evolve over the course of the season, the team usually practices four nights per week in addition to creating additional routines that it performs at basketball games.
“Every competition, you have to change small things, and you’ve seen people grow and grow into their spots and adapt to do what they are called to do on the team,” SCHS senior Alli Raddant said.
The team has 23 members — the most in its 14-year history — and four four-year members who will graduate this spring.
“This has been probably one of the most enjoyable years coaching this high school team,” Kast said. “They work well together with no conflict and they seem to share common goals.”
The Hawks have failed to place at state in each of their previous trips to Madison, but that hasn’t stopped them from dreaming big this season.
“Our expectation is that, if we don’t get first at state, which is what we are gunning for, we at least place at state because it would be a first, no matter what,” senior Kale McHugh said. “I think this team has the most potential we’ve ever had.”