Cheerleaders bring home third

The Thermopolis Bobcat Cheer squad attended the Heart Mountain Regional Spirit Competition in Cody last weekend, bringing home third place honors.

According to head coach Ayni Garza, there were eight teams at the competition and the Bobcats competed in the Game Day category to prepare them for the State Cheerleading Competition on March 11 in Casper.

“Last year we took second at state and only lost by half a point,” Garza said. “This year we are determined to win state with our new team.”

There is only one senior on the squad this year, Taydee Landrum, while the remainder is made up of freshmen.

“We decided to go to this competition, not to win, but to expose our new freshmen to what competition feels like,” she said. “They showed up very nervous and blew the judges away with their skills.

“We took third behind Lovell, a team with mostly juniors and seniors, totally close to 14 members. Powell, a 3A school, took first with a full team of experienced competitions. Its important to mention Powell took first in 3A at state last year so they are a hard competitor.”

Along with Landrum, the team consists of Brooklyn May, Riley Eldridge, Brooklynn Cooley, Autumn Bansmer and Arionna Bazzle.

“We were so happy to take third with such a young team,” Garza said. “The competition comes down to three minutes of performance that the judges use to determine places.

“We did really well with crowd leading, energy and use of props like signs and poms.

“The things we are going to work on improving for state include using our stunting skills, getting our jumps and kicks up to par with other teams, and making sure our freshmen meet the energy level of Taydee, who is very hard to keep up with because he is just so experienced.”

Garza added she and coach Brenna Huckfeldt are excited to see how this team does in three weeks at state. “They blew us away at this competition and we can’t wait to see what they pull of with more time put in and the energy they bring to the team.”