Tryouts to Trophies: What It Takes To Be Part of a Championship Squad

Photo courtesy of Rafael Guereque

Being on the Wichita State Cheer Team has been an amazing experience that I never could have imagined. Fitness has always been a major hobby in my life, but cheer strength is an entirely different world due to the technique required for the stunts. I made a lot of friends that I would never have met if it weren't for cheer and memories that I get to keep for the rest of my life. Although this is only my second year ever cheering, the team was supportive while I was learning and I was able to help the team leave our mark on Wichita State as the squad that brought home its first National Cheerleaders Association (NCA) Championship.

I joined the WSU Cheer Team after I was approached by Elise LeGrande, one of its members. She said she saw my energy at all the games as a drummer in the pep band. After seeing me in the gym, she wanted me to give cheer a chance by going to one of their clinics. I finally went to one after months of her trying to persuade me and I hit a toss hands within a couple of tries. April Banwart and Nate Hermes, the head and assistant coach, respectively, were both supportive in me trying something new and convinced me to try out for the 2024-2025 season.

Tryouts were a two-day event, but since I had military drill on that weekend, they agreed to work with me and evaluate me based on the last clinic I attended and videos I sent. I didn’t think anything of it while I was at drill, but when the post was made the following Monday, I saw that it had my name on the team’s list.

Photo courtesy of Rafael Guereque

The first thing I learned about cheer was that it is a sport with a year-long season. “Work weekends," or practice weekends begin over the summer shortly after tryouts since we cheer at the volleyball games that start in August and end around November. Before volleyball fully ends, the men’s and women’s basketball season starts and lasts until mid-March when we travel with the team to post-season games. “Nationals,” as it is called, is hosted in Daytona Beach, Florida, by the NCA in mid-April, which means that the season essentially runs from early May to mid-April of the following year.

During the school year, we practice every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 5:45  to 7:45 a.m. to accommodate everyone’s classes and work schedules. We also have weights on Tuesdays and Thursdays - time-variable depending on how the year is - to make sure we are getting in crucial growth and stability. A couple of open gyms a week are strongly encouraged since the only way to get stunts better is to put more reps in. Once January comes around, we add another practice on Sunday to make sure we are confident in our routine for Nationals. There is a lot of time and effort put into the team, but that is exactly what it takes to be the last team remaining on the mat and bring home a trophy.

Last year was my first year ever doing cheer but I had “made mat,” which meant that I was going to be one of the 20 people representing WSU in Daytona. I had no idea what to expect since I had gotten so used to the normal schedule of things throughout the year. The entire time in Daytona, I had teammates explaining to me the ins and outs of Nationals. I went to see what the stage actually looked like before performing, and learned to control my anxiety and stress. It was a competition unlike anything I’ve done before with strict rules and timing for warmups and performances. Nonetheless, we came into Nationals confident and ready to hit our routine.

Photo courtesy of Rafael Guereque

After our first performance on day one, we were all excited since we had zero drops and were ranked at the top of our division. We knew that if we wanted to win our division and become national champs, we would have to do the same thing again. Day two was the most confident and ready I had seen the team. We all knew the routine was possible with zero drops since we did it the day before and after another two-and-a-half-minute routine, we all walked off the mat knowing we just did it again. They did all the awards at the end of the night and we found out that we were not only the Intermediate Large Coed Division 1 Champions, but that we were the fourth overall score in the nation across all divisions.

Daytona was an incredible experience and bringing a trophy, banner, jackets and medals home was an even better feeling. After we finally made it back to Wichita, there was a welcome home surprise for us including the news stations. We had made history by bringing the first Cheer National Championship to Wichita State. It was surreal celebrating the championship and even being recognized for it at Koch Arena by the university hanging a banner there for us. This second year has been just as fun, and we are putting in the work to make sure that we do our best to do it again and be back-to-back national champions.