‘Use that power’

Finishing 14th didn’t sit well with Carma Reagan.

Apparently the same can be said for Gretchen Garrett and the rest of the Kingfisher High School Game Day cheerleading team.

With some words of encouragement from one of their senior leaders, a last-minute tape job and the fight of an underdog, Kingfi sher finished fifth in the Class 4A Game Day state championships last Saturday at Moore High School.

Crossings Christian School won its third consecutive Class 4A state title and sixth straight overall with 287.2 points in the finals.

Bridge Creek was the runner-up with 275.

Bethany took third with 273.4, Washington fifth with 270.6 and Kingfisher was awarded 256.2 points, two more than Broken Bow.

However, entering the day, a spot in the finals might have seemed farfetched.

Of the 38 teams to compete in regionals the previ-ous week, only the top-15 scores advanced to state. 

Kingfisher was 14th.

“I am not OK with 14th place,” said Reagan, the team’s coach.

Reagan wasn’t placing the blame solely on her squad for unrealized expectations.

The regional was one of several across the state and Game Day competitions have only been around since 2017. That means judging experience is still in its infant stages.

“I’m not sure all the judges at every regional site have as much collective experience as they do at one state site,” Reagan said.

“We didn’t have a clean performance at regionals, but I also don’t think it was a 14th-place performance.”

So the team - which included Garrett, Haleigh Eaton, Savannah Rosen, Ashley Casillas, Courtney Butts, Gretchen Garrett, Ivy Hartman, Anna Massey, Mia Hartman, Kamryn Purintun, Libbie Barnett, Raylee Nance, Ximena De-LaTorre, Harley Schlegel, Avery Snider, Kylee Rojas, Jaelin Cortes, Amy Deatherage and Mia Franco - went back to work.

The squad also included five girls in the routine Scout Snodgrass, Addy Matthews, Abbie Myers, Peyton Walker and Emiley Watkins - who are not a part of the regular cheer team.

The week before and the week after regionals, the team practiced twice a day.

“We would practice until about 5 p.m., run home and eat and be back at 6:45 for a night practice,” Reagan said. “And I think the extra work we put in paid off at state.”

Before the team got off the bus, Reagan had a message for the team.

“I told the girls not one team in that gym is concerned about 14th-place Kingfisher beating them,” she said. “So go in there and make them all see you should never count out the underdog!”

Also before the team was set to perform, members got a group text from one of their senior members.

It was Garrett, who wanted the squad to surprise people much like the football team did hours before in a 28-27 playoff win at Lone Grove.

The text read: “Hey guys got this and use that power last night football boys win we need become them.”

Said Reagan: “She was right…and we did!”

Still it wasn’t easy. At Game Day competitions, teams are judged on three criteria: fight song, crowd leading and band dance. The three scores are added up for an overall score.

All 15 teams compete in the preliminary round and then the top-six scores advance to and perform in the final round.

In warming up for the preliminary performance, the team met adversity.

One of the signs used during the routine snapped in half five minutes before the team was set to perform.

“We had to tape it together to make it work,” Reagan said. “It was stressful!”

In the prelims, Reagan said KHS “did a good job, but not a great job.”

“We had several little mistakes that I thought would knock us out of the top-six,” she said. “Class 4A is so tough that you have to be nearly perfect to make it.”

But Kingfisher did make it. The team’s score of 618.4 placed it fifth.

“The girls were so glad to get another chance,” Reagan said. “They knew they could have done better.”

In the short turnaround time before the finals, Reagan offered some fixes the team needed to make for the finals.

Then they nailed it.

“They were dialed in for three total minutes and when they got off the mat, they knew it was the best one they had done,” Reagan said. “They had an awesome final performance. They put together the best three-minute Game Day routine in the three years I have been here.”

It was the kind of performance that made their coach - and fan base - beam with pride.

“I couldn’t be more proud of this group of girls,” Reagan said. “They showed grit, heart and a determination to do the best they could to end up in the top-five of Class 4A.”