By CODI FARMER, Vandegrift Voice

The Vandegrift cheer team placed 4th out of 22 teams in the coed division at the 2019 state UIL competition in Fort Worth on Jan. 17. The Vipers also placed 1st overall in the fight song category.

The Vipers changed their strategy this year and competed in the coed division for the first time after adding four boys to their roster in November. The plan worked.

“We have been 6A for the past few years and, even though we had been doing really well, our results weren’t very reflective of the talent that we had, so we thought that changing our divisions would be able to showcase our skills better and have a higher probability of winning a state championship,” said Brianna Roughton, VHS head cheer coach.

Seniors Maicol Salazar and Dylan Maraist and sophomores Parker Payne and Josh Branstetter joined the team as flag boys. Their main was role was to stand behind the team and wave flags to promote spirit during the routine.

“I got to utilize all of my girls on the floor and utilize their skills instead of having some of them in the back waving the flags,” Roughton said.

Ordinarily, the coaches would have to assign a small number of the female cheerleaders to do signs in the back, but this year every cheerleader got to show off their skills for the judges thanks to the boys stepping up.

“I was a flag boy, but I think more than that, all four of us boys were sort of a motivator for the rest of the team,” Branstetter said. “[I got to try and] inspire others and try to get them to do their best.”

Roughton said that she plans on continuing competing in the coed division and even hopes to get Payne and Branstetter to learn how to stunt.

“I think it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Branstetter said. “I tried [stunting] a little bit already.”

Senior captain Amelia Milam noted the importance of keeping everyone on the team working hard.

“I make sure that everyone is held accountable for their position on the team because every single one of us is important,” Milam said. “If one of us messes up then it affects everyone and every single persons motion and voice is extremely important.”

That motivation did not go unnoticed. The team’s ability to keep up stamina and maintain their work ethic made quite an impact, especially when it came to taking away the cheerleaders’ nerves before competition.

“We practiced so many times and we had to run over (Christmas) break which helped keep our stamina up,” senior Kendall Mullins said. After break, , “we kept working because we knew it was time to compete and we knew we needed to get our head in the game.”

Milam also shared that the team has bonded well this year.

“I think that really helped us to motivate each other with stunting and making sure that everyone hit what they were supposed to on time and being excited to come to practice,” Milam said.

VHS competition cheer roster:

Lilly Bailey

Brandi Killingsworth

Kennedy Larson

Madison Maraist

Amelia Milam

Kendall Mullins

Ava Reeve

Kate Walsh

Hannah Broadhead

Ana Chartier

Brooklyn Chase

Kate Dean

Riley Francis

Avery Goeters

Bella McIntyre

Ava Nelson

Phoebe Sander

Angelica Schuler

Micaela Tejada

Cady Grace Wynn

Sumerlyn Yudell

Kate Cummings

Brianna Hernandez

Tori Jennings

Cate Kruczek

Tatum Sommer

Jenna Tjelmeland

Fabi Tripoli

Caroline Caldwell

Emily Wagner

Josh Branstettler

Parker Payne

Maicol Salazar

Dylan Maraist

Coach Brianna Roughton

Coach Rachel Hoyle