LADY MULES GO NATIONAL: Cheer squad begins title journey Saturday

A chance to make an impact on the national spotlight has presented itself to the Poplar Bluff cheerleading squad.

The young ladies and their coaches will be in Dallas, Texas likely practicing their routines for this weekend’s National Cheerleading Association championships after a long process that found them on the doorstep of competing for a top crown among 26 programs.

The event will take place at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center and can be watched via stream at Varsity.Com under “NCA High School Nationals.” (See the link: https://tv.varsity.com).

The team is expected to hit the floor at any time starting around 3 p.m. on Saturday, but it could flex depending on any scheduling conflicts and changes. Poplar Bluff expects to perform again 1 p.m. Sunday.

“It takes quite a bit to get to there,” head coach Kim Smith said. “These girls — especially my seniors — have had the goal since they were freshmen and it finally has come to fruition. All of these girls start pretty young with tumbling or gymnastics and for Poplar Bluff, we don’t start school cheer until seventh grade. A lot of these girls have been cheering for (the school) since then. Before that, a lot of them cheered with All Stars, a private section of cheer.

“They are athletes, there is no doubt about it. It is no longer a full-blown spirit club. They don’t take a break and work year-round for this.”

The two-time defending state champions in Class 4A after winning their most recent title last December, head to the NCA finals after changing course from heading to Florida for the United Cheerleading Association national championships instead.

“We went to St. Louis and Kansas City regionals and then to state and were actually going to go to Orlando but we were wanting to change it up,” senior Jordyn Ridens said. “None of us have been to NCA finals, we had only gone to UCA (in junior high).”

The team earned a wildcard bid via varsity-type camps and competition qualifying, by virtue of top scores at particular Masters camps that placed the Lady Mules in the upper tier of the national rankings. Poplar Bluff is invited to the high-level camp yearly and they have scored higher to get in.

They learned about their qualification a month after the camp in June and they had originally bought tickets to the UCA but made the change to NCA and thankfully got refunds on their tickets so they could seamlessly make the move from one destination to another.

“We had a choreographer come in from Oklahoma (Austin Robles) each summer and when he was here this summer he knew our goal was to go to nationals,” Smith said. “He pulled me and (assistant coach Brianna Jones) aside and said, ‘y’all have a really good chance at NCA.’ It’s more in line with how we perform and what our strengths are — the dance and our skillset and not how big our routine is.

“We polled our girls and asked if they wanted to go to Disney or if they had a real shot. They didn’t even think of it and wanted to go to Dallas.”

Ridens also noted that the team would have had to massively tweak its routine to compete at the UCA and they decided not to mess with what is in their DNA.

“UCA is more about ‘wow, that looks cool,’ kind of stuff,” Ridens said. “We have been practicing non-stop.”

Senior Adyson Parsons said the change from more of the tumbling and showy side of cheer to the more technical, performance-based criteria took some time to get used to.

“Now that we are going to NCA we just have one tumbling pass — a round-up-tuck — and didn’t make it simpler, we just cleaned it up and it’s not a better looking than what we have competed with in the past,” Parsons said. “I think our team would have done really well no matter where we would have gone. This is the strongest team we’ve ever competed with.

“Last year we had no seniors so we just have more girls and more talent.”

“We upped our stunting skills too, so hopefully that gives us more points,” Ridens said.

Jones, who joined the program two years ago, said the girls put in more than their pound of flesh to make moments like these possible.

“They work their tails off — they go to school, go to the gym all time — and we have no breaks,” Jones said. “I think they are going to do amazing.”

The girls put in a couple of hours of work about three days a week and that doesn’t include the pre and post-work at games.

“Sometimes girls will go tumbling at a gym here in Poplar Bluff and work on their own stunts or take a group and work on those stunts,” Ridens said. “You can go by yourself and just do tumbling.”

Smith added that the girls will sometimes just work independently or ask to do extra work. They work on their jumps to perfect their synchronicity where as flyers work on their timing, being clean and flexible.

“All of our flyers are amazing and take constructive criticism so well,” Ridens said.

Parsons said this group of girls get along well because it is a hive mind of determined young ladies with the same goal in mind.

“We come in here, work our butts off and no one really argues,” Parsons said. “If someone tells us to do something, we do it. It’s just that we get in there, get it done and we work.

“I think we’re leaning toward (being a team of girls that like each other and have the same goals). We have grown up together and a lot of us have known each other since we were babies. I know girls in there that I have cheered with since I was three years old. When we bicker, it’s more like sister fighting and not where we will rip each other’s heads off. We get over it in five minutes.”

Ridens said that the teams have a high number of alphas that can make it a struggle at times to allow for whose voice to rise, but she added it doesn’t hurt to have plenty of people that can step up.

Smith is really confident about this team’s chances at this weekend’s event.

“They deserve everything they get,” Smith said. “I would be tickled pink if we finish top 10, but honestly, I think that’s too low. I think we can score pretty high.”

“Top three for sure,” Ridens and Parsons added in unison.

Ridens said the team has to take advantage of their strong core of stunts, but she warned that being clean is paramount for the team’s ability to score high.

“We need to stay tight and in sync,” Parsons said. “You need to pay attention and you have to know your girls.”

The team practiced Thursday and Friday and will add some luxury like visiting AT&T Stadium before getting after it for the next days.

The girls return on Monday.

The girls heading to Dallas to represent the Lady Mules cheerleading team are: Adyson Parsons, Audrie Caudel, Emma Hicks, Jordyn Ridens, Kaytlynn Holland, Karly Scott, Kelsey Kramer, Kenzie Cassie, Lanie Robertson, Lauryn Wilkerson, Lilah Hoffman, Lydian Sanders, Macie Robertson, Maddie Cash, Miles Coleman and Sammy Schalk.