Awards Galore for Andover High

Last month, the Andover High cheer team headed to Concordia for a statewide cheerleading competition, the Sunflower Cheer and Dance Classic. They arrived with just a few personal belongings, but a payload of medals of trophies made their cars much heavier on the way home. "They'd been working so hard. There were a lot of returning girls this year. We built on last year's experience," said Darcy Eads, the cheer coach at Andover High. Andover's varsity team has 12 members and a junior varsity team of 13. This is Eads' third year as coach, but she says this year's girls are special. Kassie Christopherson, a sophomore on the varsity, agrees. "We are a very bonded team. We can say anything to each other. We fight like sisters sometimes. Our coach is like our mom," says Christopherson. Christopherson hopes to someday cheer in college, perhaps at a Big 12 school. She's been preparing for years by taking tumbling and dance lessons. This year some of that hard work paid off. Christopherson won the Five Star Production 2008 Solo Division at the Classic in Concordia. Her teammate, Maddie Starns, was runner-up in the same category. The Andover cheerleaders racked up five awards, including the Sweepstakes Award, a Shining Star Award and the Judges' Award for Outstanding Choreography, Outstanding Technique and Outstanding Voice Projection. Christopherson was particularly proud of the team performance. "We pulled part of it together in the last few days in only two practices." Two other smaller groups from the Andover team also won two awards each. The stunt team, which included Starns, Allison Morris, Monique Terry, Tiffany Wilson and McKenzie Spear, received the Award of Excellence for Stunt Routine and a Judges' Award for Showmanship and Spirit in Stunt Routine. Team captain Meghan Heeney and teammate Megan Chapman won the Award of Excellence for Captain's Routine and a Judges' Award for Technique in Captain's Routine. Eads was extremely proud of her team, especially because there are only a few of these competitions around the state every year. She says any experience the girls can get will help them improve. Christopherson agreed. "It's a lot of work, but we're so determined. It keeps us motivated."