Cheer

IHCC CHEER WINS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

IHCC CHEER WINS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Posted: Mar 19, 2022

Myrtle Beach, SC – The Indian Hills Competitive Cheer squad brought home a national title on Saturday as the team captured the Small College Co-Ed Intermediate National Championship at the Cheer Ltd. Nationals at CANAM.

Competing at the event for the second consecutive year, the Warriors put together a zero-deduction routine to take the top honors in their respective division. 

"Our goals were to hit a zero deductions routine and perform our best routine run through on the National Mat and we accomplished both," stated head coach Cyndi Mellin. Nine days prior to the competition, they announced colleges would compete on a flat mat. I told the team this gives us an advantage because we perform pyramids on a flat mat at our basketball games. Isabelle Mellin (Ottumwa, IA/Ottumwa), Nicholas Millbrooks (Newton, IA/Newton), Lucy Brookhart (Muscatine, IA/Muscatine), and Vanessa Schmeizer were all able to hit their tumbling."

Nicholas, Nick Gerard (Oxford, IA/Clear Creek Amana), Christian Lopez (Ottumwa, IA/Ottumwa), and Klaire Hatfield (Ottumwa, IA/Ottumwa) really gave Isabelle the height she needed for her back tuck X out basket. Isabelle and Sydney Schlarbaum (Ottumwa, IA/Ottumwa) did a fantastic job with their synchronization during the stunt sequence. Lucy, Vanessa, and Nick had so many jumps and tumbling in this routine and they nailed them. Emily popped up on that final pyramid and gave all the sass we needed to really grab the judges' attention. Mekayla Simmons (Ottumwa, IA/Ottumwa, Isabelle, Katie Donaldson (Osceola, IA/Clarke Community), Nick, Klaire, Sydney, Christian, and Evan Budde (Ottumwa, IA/Ottumwa) are all other sport athletes that are cheering for the first time in college. Clearly you would've never known that. We were the smallest team in our division but they didn't let that stop them."