2018 Malta Cheerleaders

The Malta Cheerleaders are back for another season and the team features many returning cheerleaders from last year's group, despite losing several to graduation last spring.

The team will be coached by third year Head Coach Timberlee Pankratz. Included in this year's fall varsity team are retuning cheerleaders Chayanna Stolem, Jordan Markuson, Shelby Jones, Bethany Holm, Camryn Messerly, and Bonnie Jones.

"For fall, all the cheerleaders already have seasons on their charts," Coach Pankratz said. "This crew is made up of upperclassmen and I'm excited to see what we can do with the experience everyone already has."

Joining the team later this year will be fourth year cheerleaders Erika Nagy and Lily Maxie. Stolem, S. Jones and Holm are also in their fourth year with the team.

"The four year girls are already excelling in leadership skills to the others," Coach Pankratz said. "Everyone wants to be sharper, louder and throw higher and I think this season is going to focus on doing those things."

The team will be without a few members from last year, having graduated five last spring.

"We had a great group of seniors last year," Coach Pankratz said. "The five seniors that graduated were Billie Orahood, Adessa Judd, Shelby Ferrell, TaChante Cole and Ashley Scheffelmaer. Adessa has taken her stunting and tumbling to the collegiate cheerleading squad for Southern Virgina University."

Coach Pankratz is back after missing a good chunk of the 2017-2018 season, but she is grateful for how the team handled things as she welcomed in her firstborn son Barrett Daniel Shores, who was born on February 1, a day in which Malta's basketball teams were playing their Rocky Boy counterparts.

"The girls did amazing with their substitute coach and I was really grateful for her to step in while I was away," Coach Pankratz said.

Though she wasn't physically with the team during games and events, she kept in touch.

"Almost every day the cheerleaders would send me videos and call about what they were doing," Coach Pankratz said.

The team took it one step further by preparing their own halftime show.

"They got in some nice stunts and a good halftime routine down," Coach Pankratz said. "Even though I was adjusting to a new lifestyle, they knew they could always use me as a resource and I was only a call away."

Due to the fact that the team did not have their head coach, the team decided to forego the annual CheerFest event, a competition that they took silver in Class B in 2016.

"The cheerleaders didn't feel we were prepared enough for CheerFest as cheer competitions are advancing so fast in the state," Coach Pankratz said. "Most competing squads have over twenty cheerleaders, hired choreographers, and multiple coaches."

Though Coach Pankratz believes Malta could return and do well at CheerFest, the team has one primary goal this year.

"Cheerfest is great experience and we really hope to return, but overall our main priority is to cheer for our school's teams," Coach Pankratz said.