NV cheerleaders bring awards home from summer camp

Five Nodaway Valley cheerleaders made a big splash at a National Cheerleading Association camp in Ames last week.

The Wolverines received several high honors at the conclusion of the camp.

“The girls got to learn several different new chants, cheers, they went over motions, jumps, stunting, got new sideline dances. Pretty much anything and everything,” cheerleading coach Crystal Ruth said. “The kids are evaluated at the end of camp and there are several awards that are given out.”

One of the honors awarded is All-American status. Nodaway Valley had three cheerleaders who were nominated for this, including Addie Stringer in the area of stunting, Annika Phillippi in the area of jumps and Kenna Ford in the area of enthusiasm.

Two of the cheerleaders did the accompanying tryout to actually become All-American. Neither made it, but Ruth was very proud of all three for being nominated. Of 27 who tried out, only the top one-third made the cut.

“It’s a very elite award for cheerleaders,” she said. “I only took five girls up there, three got nominated.”

The NV girls also received an accreditation that allows them to do stunts. Their squad, as a whole, became nationally accredited, too.

The Wolverines received a national championship bid from the camp, received a superior ribbon for their chant performance, won a spirit stick and the Herkey Award, which is one of the camp’s top awards.

Nodaway Valley was the smallest team at this camp. Many of the other teams there had 20 or 30 participating on the mat. Ruth was proud of how her cheerleaders didn’t shy away from that competition.

“You sit there and you see these teams of 20 or more. They’re all bouncing around the mat screaming, and when you only have five voices out on the mat, you get a little intimidated,” Ruth said. “For those five girls to out-shine teams with 20 and 30 kids, it kind of speaks voices for where our squad is at.”

The NV cheerleaders have been participating in strength and conditioning for awhile now and will continue preparing throughout the summer to lead cheers during the upcoming Nodaway Valley/O-M football season, which begins Friday, Aug. 26 at Mount Ayr.