Cheerleaders ready to bring energy to games

Over the past couple of years the Bigfork High School cheerleading squad has impressed crowds with its continually bigger and better stunting abilities and polished performances of cheers and dance routines, and this year the squad hopes to build on that reputation.

Done and gone

The squad lost cheerleaders Kaitlyn Shults, Chelsea Mahlum and Kayla Carlson to graduation in June and Stunt Studs Kenny Patrick and Brandon McDonald. Also, Haily Hall, who would be a senior this year on the squad, will not be attending Bigfork High School this year.

Moving on up

There are six girls who will cheer on this year's varsity squad including two seniors, Bailey Vogt and Ariel Stallknecht. All of the girls are either returners to the varsity squad or have moved up from last year's junior varsity squad. This year's JV squad has four girls on it.

Coach talk

Heather Epperly will continue to serve as the cheerleading coach this year and she will again be assisted by Kerala Hubbard.

Goals get bigger

Epperly's hope is to continue to challenge the girls to increase the level of their performances this year as well as in future years.

"I was to create a collegiate game feel during the basketball games by developing versatile partner stung groups to lead the crowd and excitement," Epperly said.

Who is where

The girls will all cheer at the football games. All but Stallknecht will be keeping the crowd going at volleyball games since she is also Valkyrie volleyball player. Cheerleaders do not perform at soccer games or cross-country meets.

Where the boys are

In recent years the Bigfork cheerleaders have been assisted in stunting by boys, referred to as Stunt Studs. The boys do not join the girls until basketball season since most of them are football players and Epperly doesn't feel that putting up challenging stunts is a good idea during the fall weather in Bigfork. So far, seven boys have expressed interest in being Stunt Studs this winter.

A new twist

Several of the girls in the Bigfork cheerleading program are teaching cheerleading classes for the LEAP after-school program in exchange for Bud Gaiser teaching them gymnastics. This will allow the girls to incorporate tumbling into their performances this winter.

Game time

The girls performed at their first game of the year Tuesday when the volleyball team hosted its first game of the season. The girls put in many hours of preparation leading up to the start of the season. They attended a cheerleading camp at the beginning of August that focused on stunting and also taught them new cheers and dances. The veteran girls have been busy teaching the new girls cheers and dances as well as changing old cheers to make them more crowd engaging.

Coach's View

"Everyone has been working very hard to get ready for the start of the season and we are looking forward to a good year," Epperly said.