Competing in a new category with several newcomers on the squad this season, Philomath High’s cheerleaders pulled off a stunning performance in the Class 4A state championships Friday at Oregon City.
The Warriors missed winning the state title in the Game Day competition by just one point — the program’s best-ever finish.
“We really thought that we didn’t place at all … once they announced fifth- and fourth-place, and then third,” cheer coach Kathy Kohler said. “Those other teams had been beating us all year and so we were like, ‘nope, it’s not going to happen.’”
But then the announcer revealed the second-place team. Philomath responded with jumps of joy after realizing what they had just heard and the team’s three captains walked onto a stage to accept the trophy.
“They knew going into it that it was going to be tough and was going to be a hard competition,” Kohler said, “and that they had to be as close to perfect as they could be.”
The Warriors had a performance that added up to 72.0 points, four points ahead of third-place Molalla and one point behind state champion North Marion. Broken down, the judges gave Philomath a score of 25.0 in band dance and fight song — the best score of the day in 4A — along with 26.5 in crowd leading and 20.5 in composite. The team avoided safety deductions.
“On the crowd leading part of it, they did very well but that is definitely a piece that needs to be as close to perfect as possible,” Kohler said. “We just didn’t quite meet the level that North Marion did — they were very, very clean and very crisp. Our girls were also clean but they weren’t quite as crisp and it’s just those tiny details that make the big difference.”
The team’s members include senior Josey Schreiber, juniors Annaleise Brown, Olivia Daggett, Erynn Kohler and Ciara Seits, sophomore Peyton Garrett, and freshmen Jordyn Allen, Brenna Schreiber and Sadie Schreiber.
Josey Schreiber, Daggett and Kohler are the team’s captains. Kenzie Leslie serves as assistant coach. Student managers this season were senior Emma May and junior Angelica Morales-Marquez.
Kohler saw the team make vast improvements during the season.
“I don’t know where to start, honestly, they really found themselves,” she said. “I think what makes it work so well is that they get along so well. The night before, I was sitting here and they were playing games and stuff and I was just sitting back watching them and just admiring how much they all get along so well.”
Kohler said the team tweaked its approach to preparation for state versus a regular-season competition.
“We do a lot of fine-tuning the two weeks (before) … definitely the week before where we focus on those little things,” Kohler said. “Like, what can you make a little bit sharper or make sure you’re hitting your motion at the beginning of a sound and not in the middle of a sound — things like that.”
Kohler said that entering Friday’s competition, there were actually mixed emotions from team members.
“Some of them were feeling a little defeated and asking themselves, ‘can we do this?’ — not as optimistic as I was hoping they would be,” Kohler admitted. “But then some of them really were very optimistic so there was this kind of balance between all of their emotions that held them all together.”
