by Ben Gaines
The Panther Cheerleaders’ Basketball season ended with the elimination of the boys by Greenwich, Friday night at HVCC, but their Competition Season was in full swing Saturday morning. The team boarded the bus for the ride to the SEFCU arena on the SUNY Albany Campus. For those who have never been to one of these competitions it is cheerleading, dancing and stunting all mixed together and set to music. Schools compete against other schools that have a team of similar size. Several of the teams are co-ed. The U Albany Danes squad has several young men that tumble and base the ladies for stunts. The larger groups are able to do more stunts at the same time, and teams with tumblers don’t compete against those without.
The dedicated Panthers have been practicing diligently since the restructuring of the team a few weeks back and have worked with Jessie Layton, a choreographer, to assist in producing their two and a half minute routine. The Panthers did a great job, finishing third in the Lib Off. Lib Off stands for Liberty Contest. The announcer counts down to when the three person stunt group must lift a flier to a standing position, and the flier must hold the position for as long as possible. Aja Wolfrum, Bree Lewis and Liz Leva supported Olivia Cushman for nearly two minutes. While this may sound easy, to strike the Liberty pose and hold it for two minutes on the ground may be but to put your trust into three friends and let them throw you seven feet up and hold one foot while you are holding the pose is not easy. It takes strength, stamina, concentration and a lot of trust. Then you have the getting down part. When all the Ladies are tired they have to safely return the flier to the ground. This requires Olivia to get into a pike position while dropping to the ground, and the bases have to catch their falling comrade. While it is part of nearly every day for these ladies, it takes a lot of practice and trust. The team, coached by Marcella Leva, finished third in their division for the main competition. This week it will be back to the gym to polish the routine for their next competition on March 3 at SUNY Cobleskill.
