MAGNOLIA—Two squads are better than one and increase the odds of capturing more national championships.
That is the shared outlook of the Southern Arkansas University co-ed cheerleading squad and the new all girl squad added this fall. The additional squad doubles the cheering power of the group to 30 strong.
Mykolas Sakevicius, a junior from Little Rock, said the new squad gives the cheerleaders the potential to move past their current ranking of fourth nationally in Division II.
“This is going to make us a more popular school and give us a new edge where we can have more titles and championships and bring more students to SAU,” Sakevicius said.
The additional squad also provides opportunities for students who participated in the Strutters, a pom dance group, which dissolved due to a lack of student interest.
Brittany Carr, a member of the Strutters last year, said she was happy about the new opportunity to cheer. Carr, a sophomore from Lewisville, Ark., was a cheerleader when she attended Lafayette County High School.
“This was an easy transition for me,” Carr said. “I love cheerleading, that’s my heart. I’m very very happy about this.”
Ceil Bridges, the cheerleading sponsor who took over the squad in 2002 with six girls, said the growth in the team has been phenomenal and commands the attention of people across the state.
“I’ve already received a call from Monticello from a girl who wants to join,” Bridges said, explaining that the girl noticed the cheerleading squads during SAU’s first football game September 1 against the University of Arkansas at Monticello. “Visually we make a big impact when we go places and have such a great cheerleading squad.”
Bridges said she was impressed with the success of the cheerleaders last year during competition and hopes that both squads will be ready to excel in their individual categories this year.
“Very rarely does a team go to the competition for the first time and make it to the finals so we were extremely excited,” Bridges said. “To make it to the finals is just unheard of really.”
As for what football fans can expect to see from the cheerleaders this fall, the co-ed squad and all girl squad will cater to fans at both ends of the sidelines. And the all girls squad won’t be the only ones doing a little dancing, she said.
“We’ve found that our guys like to dance too,” Bridges said
