February was a big month for Barlow’s varsity cheer team. The team competed in OSAA Cheer State and USA Cheer Nationals led by Coach Brandie Seibel and their two senior captains, Tatum Louthan and Korynn Dow.
Cheer is all about organized chanting, dancing, and of course, cheering. The cheerleaders work together as a team to perform stunts and routines. Out of her eighteen years of coaching cheerleading, Coach Seibel says that their current team is one of the top three she has coached.”I knew they were going to be a good team from how they placed together at camp,” Seibel states and elaborates how they work together really well and value teamwork.
OSAA Cheer State was at Oregon City High School on Saturday, February 10, 2024. Barlow brought their game faces and placed seventh out of the fourteen groups who competed in the 6A Small Traditional Group with a two-minute and thirty-second routine. The first minute is a cheer-based routine and the last minute and a half is the dance portion which contains a pyramid, tumbling, and elite stunts.
Cheer Nationals were held in Anaheim, California from Friday, February 16th through Saturday, February 17th, 2024. Barlow varsity cheer team competed in traditional and intermediate categories against teams from California, Utah, and other teams west of the Rocky Mountains. At nationals they hit zero, Coach Seibel explains, “In the cheer world that means they hit everything, we didn’t have any deductions.” Barlow’s team placed 22nd out of forty teams.
Lastly, Barlow’s varsity cheer team placed fifth in the high school situational sideline division. The situational sideline division is a replication of a “game day” with two out of the four elements of routines from a “Friday night football game,” as Coach Siebel said. The announcer calls a situation and one of the cheerleaders determines if it’s an offense or defense call and performs an offense or defense cheer rather than a sideline cheer.
Congratulations on a good season Barlow Cheer!
