CHEERLEADING: Tradition changes Sports fans have had more help cheering the Bisons o n this year with the renewal of an old Harding tradition, male yell leaders, on the traditional cheerleading squad. Three yell leaders geared up excitement at football games in the fall , and one continued on to cheer for Bison tiasketball as well. According to cheerleading sponsor Patty Barrett, this is not the first time Harding has had males on the cheerleading squad. "Harding did have some ma le cheerleaders in the late 70s. We 've been talking about adding some sort of unofficial guys to the squad, but this year we got the opportunity to officially add them," Barrett said. Tryouts in the spring of '97 left the squad with only six members and, in an effort to add to that number, Barrett and the cheerleaders took the opportunity to add yell leaders. Miriam Dodson has been cheering on Harding's sidelines for six seasons. "We had talked about adding guys in the past and, due to a sma ll number of girlsin the spring, we decided to look for guys , and the idea really took off," Dodson said. "I decided to try out more because of personal initiative than anything, " yell leader Spencer Otto said. "I'm a really outgoing person, and I decided to take a chance and try out. " Cheer squad members, new and old, seemed pleased with the addition of the male members. It povided new opportunities that were not available before. Sophomore Amber Keilers has been a cheerleader at Ha rdi ng for two years. "I rea lly like working with the guys, " she said. "They help out a whole bunch with making signs for the games, and they make it easier to do more building stunts." Dodson said, "It is really fun to work with them, and it raised the level of the squad as a whole. We were able to do more building and more stunts, which were hard in the past because we had such a sma ll number of girls. " "Later in the semester we got permission to start doing lifts , and that took added practice to get them right, " Otto said. What did the fans think' Sophomore Bryan]obe attended all of the Bison home football games and said the yell leaders were a good addition ro the cheer squad . "I fe lt it was good to have more volume ro lead the cheers in rhe audience, and I thought it helped. Some people who 1 never see cheer were cheering this year along with the yell leaders," l obe said. "We wanted the guys tq-add some more excitement ro rhe games," Barreti said. She said she would love to see the program become a larger part of Harding athletics. "I would love to have four yell leaders. I fee l that, if we can generare interesr in rhe program, more guys will come, and we will begin ro see the program grow." "I rea lly enjoyed being a yell leader. The hardest part was managing time. We had to travel wirh the ream to away games, and it took a lot of my study time, " Otto said. "The best part was building friendships while ar rhe same time showing spirir and supporting the teams. " - Scott Loftis FootbalL First Row: Miriam Doc/son, Can'ie Thetford, Amber Keiters. Second Row: Tim Ander· son, Mandi Hogan, jaime Evans, Carla Redd, jeremy Grosklos. Photo by Kristi Burns. Basketball First Row: Candace Weaver. Second Row: Tori Predmore, Amber Keilers, Carla Redd. Third Row: Paige Fairley, Jeremy Grosklos, Mandi Hogan. Photo by Ktisti Burns. ffiiI 226 Sports " We wante~ the guys to a~~ some more excitement to the games. " Pat ty Barrett " $ome people who Inever see cheer were cheering this year along with the yelt lea~ers. " 8rya7t}obe " It is realty fun to work with them an~ it raises the level of the s~ua~ as a whole. " Miriam /Jodjo7t
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