Aggies Defeated Bearkats 19-16 in “Stunt Competition”
The Texas A&M Aggies defeated Sam Houston State University (SHSU) Bearkats All-Girl Squad by the score of 19-16 in the “Stunt Competition that was hosted at the Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum on the campus of SHSU on Sunday.
The stunt competition focuses on the technical and skill aspects of cheerleading. It is recognized as an “emerging sport” by the NCAA.
They are four quarters in the competition . The first quarter consist of partner stunts, the second quarter is pyramids and tosses, the third quarter is group jumps and tumbling and the fourth quarter is where each team perform a two minute and two second team performance.
The first three quarters consists of three rounds each where both teams compete head –to-head on the floor.
In each round, they perform one of six pre-choreographed routines. A team with possession of each round will determined which one of the routines they will perform.
The judges ranks the teams of each round based on execution of each performance. The team with the best execution will be awarded first place with two points while the second place team will be awarded one point.
A team may forfeit a round if they are unable to perform the necessary skills in the routine. If that happens, the other team can still perform the routine and either get one point or two points.
In the first quarter, the Aggies swept through all of the three rounds and took a commanding 6-3 lead.
In the second quarter, the Bearkats made some strides in the routine and took the first round to cut the lead to 6-5. However, the Aggies continued with their domination and took the second and third rounds to extend their lead to 10-6.
Both teams tied in the first round on the third quarter with the Aggies maintaining their lead to 12-8. Despite the tie, the Aggies took the second and third round to increase their lead to 16-10.
In the fourth quarter, each team performed a full routine. A&M couldn’t hold their pyramids fully, while the Bearkats hold the pyramid flawlessly. A drop pyramid weighs more than a drop stunt because of the degree of difficulty it brings to the whole routine.
Even though the Bearkats took the fourth quarter, it was too little too late as the Aggies went on to win it by the score of 19-16.
We laid off a little bit on the first three quarters, All-Girl Co-Captain and All-American Andrea Dearing said. “We focused hard on our nationals routine and it showed even though we won the fourth quarter.”
Though they lost, they feel that today’s competition will help them to improve their routine as they get set for the NCA/NDA National Cheer Competion that will be held in Daytona Beach, Florida from April 11-15.
“It was really important for us to get in front of the crowd and have a lot of energy and work out some kinks, Dearing said.”
