When you have more than 1,400 cheer and dance athletes competing on over 120 teams across all age and skill divisions, it can be rather difficult to figure out where you might fit into things when it comes to the calibre of competition.
For Infinity Athletics at the Best of the West Cheer and Dance Championships on Saturday at the Moose Jaw Events Centre, it all turned out just fine. And then some.
The local cheerleading crew picked up a trio of first-place finishes to go along with two outstanding performances at the event, which ran throughout the day in front of a packed house.
“It went awesome, it was so much fun,” said Infinity Athletics coach Melissa Marzolf. “It was really amazing to see all the talent in the building and it was such a great day.”
Claiming first place in their respective divisions were Interstellar (U18 Level 2 NT), Shooting Stars (U16 Level 4 AG) and Supernovas (U12 Level 3), while the Twinkles U6 Novice and Starlites Prep Level 1 both took home Outstanding Performance honours.
Infinity also had a pair of top-three finishes to go along with a fifth-place and seventh-place showing from their teams, all results they were more than proud of.
“The last few weeks when you’re prepping for a competition, you’re tweaking things, you’re changing things and then you go out there, and you can see their faces light up as they hit each stunt,” Marzolf said. “It doesn’t matter how many routines you’ve seen or been a part of, those butterflies you used to get when you used to perform, you still get them any time you see the kids out there. And that little adrenaline boost when they do well at the end of it all, it’s all just so exciting.”
As for the competition itself, like the first Best of the West in Moose Jaw in 2022, it all ran like clockwork. Marzolf gave a lot of credit to event director Alissa Stewart, who she credited as “running a tight ship”, to the point that performances were spot on to the minute of their scheduling.
“She got together all the staff and crews, and from the backstage to the warm-ups to the judges up above and our DJ and announcer, it was a well-oiled machine,” lauded Marzolf. “Everyone kept it fun and exciting and it turned out amazing, they all worked so well together and it was a great day.”
The event also featured opportunities for teams to earn bids for the IASF Cheerleading Championships in Orlando in May. Defending world champion Regina Cheerleading Athletics Smoke picked up the paid bid and $5,000 toward their trip south, while Warman Ultimate Cheerleading Peridot joined Winnipeg’s Central Cheer 5RAWR and RIO7 in claiming At Large bids.
Now, it’ll be matter of taking feedback from the Best of the West judges and putting their advice to good use heading into the remainder of the season.
“It’s all about doing what you can to improve and get that ‘hit zero’ (no deductions) at the next meet,” Marzolf said. “That’s one thing we always look at and work towards, and there’s so much other information on the scoresheets that we can use. From the comments, what we can do here to tweak this a bit or move someone around who might work better in this area... It’s a big puzzle and we’re always trying to solve it.”
Infinity Athletics are next in action at the three-day Warman Cheer Classic during the Mar. 10 weekend. You can keep up with all their activities at www.facebook.com/moosejawcheer/.
