Taylor University competitive cheer is in its best year since debuting as a program in the spring of 2021. Two events into the current season, the Trojans have established program records three times over and in consecutive rounds.
Competitive cheer’s top team score was 73.77 going back to 2022, but on Feb. 4 at the Indiana Wesleyan Wildcat Invite in Marion, Ind., the Trojans’ 82.03 mark in the second round of the event set a new standard of excellence. This score positioned Taylor for a second-place finish in the final routine performance of the day, just behind host Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU), who posted 87.80.
Hannah Kirby, former competitive cheerleader at IWU, is in her third season as head coach for the Trojans. While at IWU, she contributed to the team qualifying for the NAIA National Championships each of her four years.
“The team’s drive and determination has definitely been the biggest key factor in our success this year as a team,” Kirby said. “Without the hard work of the athletes, my experience with NAIA cheer doesn’t mean much in terms of the team’s success.”
The first competition for the Trojans came at the Marian Invite on Jan. 28, where they finished second to Indiana Wesleyan in a five-team field and broke the 80-point threshold for the first time.
Game day cheer is publicly seen over the course of Trojans’ football and basketball seasons, but Emma-Kate Moore,a junior flyer, said their priority is always practicing their routines for the competitive spring ahead. She estimates their fall practices use the last 20 minutes for game day cheer, but the vast majority of their time is spent in preparation for competition.
“That’s where most of the growth happens,” Moore said. “It’s a foundation for when competition starts.”
With a roster of only 14, the Trojans are limited in terms of their designated difficulty bracket and therefore, scoring potential, when in competition. Adopting this mindset, Moore said they are focused on maximizing their point totals through crisp execution, by cleaning up the little things in their routines such as solidly sticking group stunts, transitions and maintaining uniformity in their angles when running through triple jumps.
J. Michael Pierce II, senior base and tumbler, echoed the same intentions for the team. He credited Coach Kirby for her choreography and her foresight in knowing what needs to be improved in their routine as well as the timeline for it.
“It’s really just repetition and the little tweaks to make sure that everything’s consistent,” Pierce said. “But the big jump on Saturday (Feb. 4) was I think mainly attitude adjustment … We just really got the energy up and Coach gave us some encouragement.”
For the remainder of this 2023 season, Pierce said he is working on incorporating an additional tumbling pass into the existing routine.
Execution and attitudinal improvement aside, Moore also emphasized how much closer the whole team has become because of intentionality and frequent team bonding.
“This year, I feel like our team is actually like my second family, and I get emotional sometimes talking about it because I just love them so much,” Moore said. “I just feel like everyone is there for the right reasons.”
Feb. 17, Taylor hosted five other Crossroads League teams at the Trojan Invite, which was a one-round competition. This upcoming Saturday, the Trojans will compete in the Crossroads League Championship beginning at 4 p.m. in Marion.
“We are gunning for a nationals bid this season,” Kirby said. “Whoever wins the conference gets an automatic bid to nationals.”
There are also at-large bids for non-conference winners, so Kirby stressed the importance of finishing high. When everything comes to a close, the Trojans will look to improve their No. 25 national ranking from 2022 and cap off an already historic campaign.
