Malta Cheerleaders head to Lewistown

The Malta Cheerleaders have been cheering for Malta sports programs all season, yet the group now has a completion of their own.

CheerFest is scheduled for this Friday, March 17 in Lewistown at 5:00 p.m. The team will have eight varsity and five JV Cheerleaders at the event.

"It's everyone's first time and I feel pretty excited for it," Senior Cheerleader Daphne Johnson said. "It's something you can learn from."

The PCN caught up with Malta Cheer Coach Timberlee Pankratz as well as the group's two seniors Johnson and DeeDee Johannesen after their cheering was done at the MetraPark Arena in Billings last Saturday night.

Coach Pankratz is in her first year as the cheer coach and she shared her thoughts on watching her team of nine cheerleaders perform their routine in front of close to 2,000 people.

"It was nostalgic because that was me four years ago," Pankratz said. "It's a lot like four years ago."

Coach Pankratz is a 2013 graduate of Malta High School and with the departure of longtime cheer coach Brianna Brooks, Pankratz was hired one week before cheerleading practices started last August.

"She's the one who gave me the passion for cheer," Coach Pankratz said. "I'm so happy to follow in her footsteps."

According to Pankratz the dance portion of the routine is similar to a rendition that was performed in Coach Pankratz's freshman cheerleading season.

"We just kind of go out there and do a cheer and do the clappy-thingy and then we get into the dance, where there are songs," Johnson said. "We do stunts and then we dance and then stunt again. It's pretty great."

Having several leaders that can form a strong base, Malta has been able to use Erika Nagy and Devyn Salsbery as their two flyers this season.

"The rest of us are bases. Like Billie (Orahood), Lily (Maxie), Daphne and me," Johannesen said. "Our backs are TaChante (Cole), Adessa (Judd), Macy (Knudsen) and Chayana (Stolem)."

The most important thing about throwing flyers through the air might be obvious.

"Catch them," Johannesen said. "Use your legs to throw but catch them."

The seniors admitted that their outing at state wasn't their best performance, but if they had to pick one it was only one week prior to state.

"At the Boys divisional in Cut Bank," Johannesen said noting that it was during a consolation round game.

Like Johnson, Johannesen is looking forward to CheerFest.

"It's pretty nerve-wracking because there are cheerleaders that are really, really good cheerleaders but as Daphne was saying it would be a good experience to see and watch everybody else and then gain from that experience."

The choreography that Malta Cheerleaders have done this season does require coordination.

"It's kind of difficult at first but then we somewhat get in sync," Johannesen said.

The Malta cheerleaders have been posed with the argument that cheerleading is not an actual sport. Johnson shared her response.

"You can get even more injured than most sports," Johnson said. "You can really, seriously injure somebody. It's hard. We have to memorize all of the cheers, memorize all of the dances and that takes a lot of brain work that I don't think most sports need. This combines both physical and mental abilities. One person can't carry the whole team, we have to work together."

Johannesen was asked if cheerleaders lift weights.

"We occasionally have weight-room Wednesdays," Johannesen said. "But I'm in weights class during school and it really helps me a lot."

Coach Pankratz expressed pride in her team.

"I'm extremely proud of them with it being my first year," Pankratz said. "They really kicked out the routine, when I wanted them to. I'm really proud of all they accomplished."