Savannah, Central cheerleaders show spirit at state

By Kirsten Stokes

Two local spirit squads have something to cheer about after taking home some statewide honors.

The Savannah and Central high school cheerleading teams each placed second in the 3A small coed and 5A large divisions, respectively, at the Missouri state competition recently.

Members of the teams reflected on the moment they heard about their schools’ placements and the hard work that led to those heart-racing moments.

“It was kind of like a weight lifted off of our chest when they got to third and we didn’t hear St. Joseph Central, and it was like, OK… we at least were top two. Which is 100% where we belonged in terms of what skills we had,” said Callie Farrell, Central’s head coach.

Savannah’s Assistant Coach Heather Sidwell said the mood was similar among her squad.

“When they started calling the names of 4,5, 6 A schools and not us, that in itself, knowing that our tiny little town was doing so well and that our kids are just so darn talented and all that hard work paid off was great,” she said.

Savannah cheer placed second in the 3A small coed division, missing first place by less than a point and earning one of the top scores in the entire competition. Senior Isabella Arnold said being that close wasn’t a hard pill to swallow.

“Obviously, it’s kind of devastating to learn that we lost by less than a point, but at the end of the day, when you really look at it in retrospect, we were competing against some of the largest schools in the state and the team that beat us has consecutive state titles and has about 100 kids try out for their team a year,” Arnold said.

The team will advance to nationals in January and has plans to improve in hopes of a high placement.

“It just really shows that we are capable of big things, and we still have a competition left this year. We can still do really well and we were so close that it still kind of feels like a championship to me,” Arnold said.

Central placed second in the 5A large division, missing first place by 1.13 points. Senior Kennedy Sponseller said the team didn’t expect such a high finish.

“Just hearing that we got second was still just like a huge win for us because we still went against 13 teams and that’s really hard. So, still beating 12 teams was like so amazing. We are super happy,” Sponseller said.

Senior Savannah Davidson is encouraged to leave the program in a positive place for the underclassman, and that comes with fun mantras to keep that energy up.

“So there are two things we always do. The first is called ‘big dog’s gotta eat.’ So every time we say ‘big dog’s gotta eat’ we bark back. We do that every time before we perform and it just helps us get ready and be confident,” she said. “Then in the middle of the routine, if you ever see a video of us, you’ll always see us patting each other’s back.”

Both teams had members enter individual competitions. Central had five cheerleaders receive the 5A All-State award, Petra Anderson, Jacey McCrary, Kendall Weston, Kasey Perry and Jaycee Hoffman, through their positions in a stunt group, tumbling and jumps.

Savannah brought home two individual awards for Duncan Lisenbee and Hallie Helfery. They are the 3A All-State cheerleaders for their flying and tumbling.

After sharing sessions at the competition and doing the Central showcase together, Farrell said she feels grateful for both teams being able to work in such close proximity.

“It was extremely comforting for both squads to know that you had a squad that had your back while you were, you know, trying to compete and things like that. So it was great,” Farrell said.

That rang true for Sidwell as well.

“We were with them all day and they made a point to come down and cheer for us and yell along,” she said. “And then the same thing, vice versa, the Savannah kids were down in the front and supporting Central and yelling along with them while they were performing.”

As Central advances to gameday competitions and Savannah to nationals in January, both teams are hoping for the continued success and growth of their programs.