×
×
homepage logo

Panthers cheerleaders take home first-place awards

By Sue Sitter - | Mar 26, 2022

Submitted Photo The Rugby High School Basketball Cheerleading squad poses with their first-place awards. From back left are Assistant Coach Deanne Nelson, Taylor Mayer, Kiara Larson, Taya Rameden, Annika Johnson, and Coach Leah Johnson. In the front row from left are Tailyr Bush, Paisley Wangler, Amber Houim, and Allison Selensky.

The Rugby Panthers Basketball Cheerleading squad brought home first-place awards from the North Dakota Cheer Coaches Association’s state competition in Minot on March 19.

An enthusiastic community welcomed the team, complete with an escort by Rugby’s first responders.

Rugby’s Annika Johnson, Taylor Mayer, Taya Rameden, Kiara Larson, and Paisley Wangler took first place in the state class B stunt group competition. Stunts included three team members holding Mayer, the “flyer,” above their heads, tossing, and catching Mayer by linking their arms together to form a “basket” and more.

The Panthers cheerleaders also took first place in the class B Time Out and Game Day divisions, where they performed the routines they’d used to energize Panthers fans during basketball games.

Team members Johnson and Larson also took home NDCCA Senior Awards to recognize their accomplishments during their high school cheerleading careers.

“It was nice knowing we were going out with a win with our last competition,” Rameden, a senior at Rugby High said.

“Honestly, it was the best we’ve ever done in competition,” Larson said, nodding her head in agreement.

Like other Panthers athletes, the cheerleaders overcame injuries and adversities in their season. Their coach, Leah Johnson, said Rameden suffered a broken nose the day before the competition. Johnson’s daughter, Annika Johnson, performed all basketball season with torn knee ligaments.

Despite the challenges, Rameden said the team was ready for state.

“The adrenaline took over and everything went as we planned it,” Rameden said.

All seniors had participated in cheer through high school. Although they ended their years of high school cheerleading at the top of the heap, none had plans to continue cheerleading in college.

“However,” Larson said, “I’ll miss the people I cheered with and my memories with them. That’s been the best part of it all, just hanging out with my friends.”

Leah Johnson said she was proud of the seniors for finishing as state champions.

“After COVID, our competition was canceled the week before it was supposed to happen in 2020,” Leah Johnson said. “Then, last year, it was a modified schedule because we weren’t allowed to go to all the games. We did sort of a partial thing.

“This year, half of our team are eighth graders or freshmen, so we knew it would take some time to get to the competitive level,” Leah Johnson added.

“I credit those four girls with taking that on,” she said of the job of teaching their younger teammates. “Deanne Nelson and I had said, ‘This is up to you guys. We can help and do what we need to do, but it’s also on you to teach them what they need to be able to do.'”

Nelson served as assistant coach for the basketball cheer squad.

Leah Johnson said she and Nelson watched as the team grew confident in its abilities.

The younger team members gradually learned they could push through adversity and self-doubt to be ready for state, Leah Johnson noted.

“Most of the time, no one is ready until they know they have to do it, especially with teenagers,” she said. “It’s just a part of the natural learning process for them. Sometimes, they don’t know what they can do until they have to do it.

“I think they’ll be fine,” she said of next year’s group of Panthers basketball cheerleaders. “I think there’s still some learning that needs to happen but I think we have a few of our younger girls who are super-dedicated to the sport, which is really exciting. Because then, you know there’s some continuity to the program, too.”

Leah Johnson said the Panthers squad’s performances at state impressed her.

“You know how you watch the Olympics and it looks so easy, like you could get up and do it, too? That’s when you know that someone’s really good at what they do,” Leah Johnson said. “And these girls make it look easy. They make it look like anyone should be able to stand up and do what they do. And when you’re at a competition, you realize that it’s not easy because you see some of the teams with less experience and how they struggle.

“One of the great things about cheerleading is you cheer each other on,” Leah Johnson added. “Those are things that I think are beneficial for kids long after high school is over.”

Leah Johnson said this year’s basketball season would be her last for coaching cheer, adding Nelson was set to take over as coach next season.

Leah Johnson said she enjoyed coaching her daughter on the squad.

“Any time you get a chance to coach your own kid, there’s a lot of dynamics that go along with that. It’s very challenging, but it’s something I get to do. Not every parent gets that opportunity and I get to do that,” Leah Johnson said.

“I’m also excited for these four girls,” she said of the seniors. “I think a lot of people mourn when those things are over but I’ve always been someone who thinks about where they go next. I’m looking forward to that next step. It’ll be completely different next year when I don’t have somewhere to go three times a week with basketball.”

Leah Johnson said although she’s finished with coaching, she’ll have a special place in her heart for the cheerleaders at Panthers games she attends.

“Yes, forever,” she said, smiling.