The reigning Oakland Activities Association (OAA) White champions, the Oxford Wildcats cheer program took two major steps toward replicating that success this season.
First, the program hosted their annual “Mardi Gras Invitational” on Jan. 11, a theme that dates to the previous coaching regime in 2009, according to head coach Alanna Weber.
Competing against seven other schools at the Division I level, the Wildcats took home first-place in impressive fashion, posting the highest total in two of the three rounds.
Weber’s girls won both the first round, referred to as the “Required Round,” and round two, known as the “Compulsory Round.” The girls finished in third-place in the third and final round, the “Open Round.”
Oxford’s grand total of 724.44 allowed them to narrowly edge out the second-place Anchor Bay Tars (721.3) by 3.14 points. Utica (718.1) captured third-place, followed by the Lakeland Eagles (703.3) in fourth-place.
“We’re super proud of them (the girls),” assistant coach Kelly Westbrook said. “What a great way to start the season, this was only our second competition and our first since (Christmas) break.”
Improving by five spots from their sixth-place showing in their crown jewel event a year ago, Weber and Westbrook are pleased with how their younger girls have stepped up and filled the void of the 16 graduates off last year’s team.
“They’re doing a really good job,” Weber said of her underclasswomen. “And our seniors are being great leaders, too.”
“It’s amazing how we have five freshmen and the seniors on this team just took them on like they were their own, right from the beginning,” Westbrook shared, echoing Weber’s sentiments.
“We do a Big Sister-Little Sister program on the team, too,” Westbrook continued. “Gives the girls a sense of mentorship and that has been really helpful for us.”
Exemplifying why this program has found consistent success over the last couple of years, Weber was proud of the performance at all levels of the program.
“Our eighth grade team won, our seventh grade team took home second-place and our freshman team won,” she said. “So, that’s really important to trying to build our program up that way.”
Keeping their momentum rolling, the Wildcats collected another first-place finish in their first OAA White meet at Avondale High School on Jan. 16.
Facing four other competitors, Oxford made an equally emphatic statement to the one five days prior by again winning each of the first two rounds. Second-place Avondale, who came in just a point-and-a-half behind the Wildcats, won the Open Round.
The Royal Oak Lady Ravens occupied third-place and the West Bloomfield Lakers claimed fourth-place.
Joining the second OAA Meet on Jan. 30 and the league championships on Feb. 8, this event is one of three on the year that will count toward Oxford’s repeat efforts. In an interesting twist of scheduling, each of the two remaining divisional meets will take place at the Ian Smith Gymnasium.
“We were anxious headed into the meet because we have the pressure of defending our league title,” Weber said. “The girls know what’s at stake and, especially with graduating 16 seniors a year ago, we’re very proud of how they’ve stepped up. We’re winning and performing better than we were at this time last year.”