Staff writer
Among the generous gathering of Warrior faithful who made the 90-minute trek to Ellinwood on Friday, were the Marion High School cheerleaders.
Many were bundled in brightly colored red and blue jackets, but the six girls — EmmaLee Hett, Heather Fine, Mikaela Fredrickson, Taylor Harms, Ashley Buckner and Lindsey Maytum — braved the cold to cheer for the crowd.
The atmosphere at the game was a striking contrast to the facilities at Marion.
Gone was the pop music played over speakers for choreographed dance numbers. The only accompaniment they had was a lone trumpeter playing the Marion fight song after touchdowns.
Gone was any semblance of a halftime show. The girls humbly sat on the sidelines and watched the homecoming festivities for Ellinwood.
Gone was the boisterous support of a home crowd. Marion supporters were placed on the opposite end of the field in a small grouping of metal bleachers.
Marion cheerleaders go to every road football game, despite the decreased fanfare.
“We cheer for football but we support all the sports,” Hett said.
Most cheerleaders wouldn’t be found within 500 yards of a cross-country meet, but for the Warriors home meet Sept. 23 at Marion County Lake, the cheerleaders were there to support the team. They didn’t cheer, mainly because most of the race is blind to spectators who gather around the dual start and finish line of the race, but they did hand out medals.
“We support all of the sports by doing locker posters,” cheer coach Susan Hall said. “We’ll also create large posters for commons areas.”
The Warrior cheerleaders feel that Marion has been in a spiritual crisis for the last couple of years. They have put the responsibility on themselves to excite the crowd and mend the school’s spirit.
“Our student section wasn’t with us,” Harms said. “We have to do more work.”
Hall said that the squad has planned all three pep rallies for this year and has worked much harder to involve both the student section and the regular Warrior patrons in cheers.
“I’ve heard community people, in the crowd, talking about how they’re being involved,” Hall said. “(The squad) is being recognized for that.”
Repairing the schools’ spirit can seem monumental for a group that only features eight members, especially when their busy schedules keep them from practicing. Two of the members of the squad participate in other sports: one is on the cross-country team the other is on the volleyball team.
The eight members sometimes dwindle to even smaller numbers in times of strife. There were only six cheerleaders at the game on Friday and only four at Marion’s homecoming game. The flu has hit the cheerleading squad.
“We have no time to meet for practices,” Hett said because of jobs and other commitments to school organizations. “We practice at the middle school gym on Mondays and Thursdays, when none of us are sick.”
With that practice time, the squad has created new cheers and dances. Fredrickson has penned a few new cheers and Harms created a dance. The team also attends a summer camp to learn even more. The team is also learning new stunts. Monday, at practice, the team told Hall that they were bored with the stunts they were performing and perfected two new stunts.
“They’re constantly trying to create new cheers,” Hall said. “They’re gradually learning what their strengths are; to me, that’s initiative.”
The team is also saving its best dance for the football team’s game against Hillsboro Oct. 29.
“The cheerleading team pretty much rocks,” Hett said. “We’re like sisters.”