Submitted Photo The Stanley Blue Jays cheerleading team poses after placing first in the cheer and dance routine competition at the 2024 North Dakota Cheer Coach’s Association state winter cheer competition, last month.

The Stanley Blue Jays cheerleading team is a bit of a rarity in Class B in North Dakota. Few schools in Class B boost the numbers that the Stanley High team does with its 19 members. Even fewer have enjoyed Stanley’s success at state competitions. The categories at the 2024 North Dakota Cheer Coaches Association (NDCCA) State Winter Cheer Competition held Saturday, Feb. 10 were: Cheer/ Dance Routine, Time Out Cheer, Game Day, Stunt Group, All Around/Top Sideline Cheerleader and Jump Off.

At the competition held at Legacy High School in Bismarck, the Stanley varsity team claimed first place in the Cheer / Dance Routine this year while the JV added first place in the Time Out Cheer. Individually, Laney Jackson claimed second place in the Jump Off for Stanley.

“As a Class B school, we feel really blessed to have the numbers,” said Blue Jays head coach Brittney Hunting. “We have the ability to break up into varsity and JV Teams. The JV consists of our seventh and eighth graders and the varsity is ninth to twelfth graders.”

For the NDCCA competitions, Class A are the larger schools in the state while Class B are the smaller schools. Stanley has taken first place in the Cheer/Dance Routine five of the past six seasons. The year that the team wasn’t in first place, they ended up competing in Class A as no other Class B schools were ready for competition in the Cheer / Dance Routine category yet.

“Obviously, taking first is the goal,” said Hunting. “But at the end of the day, all you care about is knowing that you did your best and left everything on the mat. There’s no better feeling than knowing you gave your best performance. We had some moments where we thought we lost it. Both teams had girls learning new positions and signs right before they took the mat due to unexpected circumstances. In the end, the things we drill day in and day out at practice saved us.”

In the small community where many coaches for extracurricular activities are not part of the teaching tree, having such strong youth leadership is extremely valuable as well.

“The leadership on the team is amazing,” said Hunting. ” Watching varsity take the JV under their wing and prep them and encourage them is a really fun thing to see. We’ve set the bar high. There were several moments when we would just step back and just admire their ability to take things into their own hands and know it’s up to our expectations.”