Baker High School's cheerleading squad will compete in the state championships on Feb. 9, 2024, at Oregon City High School.

Baker High School’s cheerleading squad will compete at the state competition for the first time in many years, but getting there was something of an ordeal.

There was an ice storm.

Cancellations.

The challenge of performing not for an audience and for judges, but for a video camera.

But perseverance paid off, said Kendra Gonzales, who is in her fourth year as BHS cheerleading coach.

Baker will compete in the cheerleading state championships Friday evening, Feb. 9 at Oregon City High School.

“It’s pretty cool to get to state,” Gonzales said.

The 15-member squad, which includes students from all four grades and has been practicing and performing since early November, will compete in the “game day” category.

That’s a classification the Oregon School Activities Association added several years ago, Gonzales said. Teams competing in that category perform traditional cheers rather than the more elaborate, choreographed routines that squads in the “traditional” category put on.

Baker and other teams in the game day group must perform four components, all within three minutes, Gonzales said:

• Band dance/chant — a performance similar to what the squad often does during timeouts or at halftime.

• Situational cheer. This requires the squad to make a quick decision, Gonzales said. An announcer will describe a scenario during a game, such as an offensive or defensive situation, and the cheerleaders have to choose a cheer that’s appropriate for the circumstance.

• Crowd-leading cheer. The idea here is to use signs, pom poms and chants to encourage spectators to participate.

• Fight song. Performing a cheer accompanied by the school’s fight song.

To qualify for state, squads have to compete in at least two regional events, Gonzales said.

That’s a challenge for Baker, as there are no competitions in Eastern Oregon.

Baker was slated to compete in two events during a weekend in mid January in the Portland area, but an ice storm postponed both, Gonzales said.

Baker competed in a rescheduled event at West Linn High School in late January.

But the squad wasn’t able to attend a second competition, also in the Portland area.

Instead, the organizers allows the BHS squad to video its performance.

Despite the unusual circumstances, Gonzales said the Bulldogs scored 9 points higher than during the West Linn competition and qualified for the state championships.

“I was really proud of them,” she said.

Team members are: freshmen Ady Boehm, Azilia Chamberlain, Carly Dommeyer, Jadyn Passadyn, Jurnee Bliss, Khloe Cribbs and Sofia Ward; sophomore Paige Anderson; juniors Eowyn Smith, Jillian Poe, Nele Houben and Sofia Hanson; seniors Cheyanne McQuiston, Evangeline Rexroad and Ryann Paulsen.

Baker is scheduled to perform at 7:50 p.m. on Feb. 9. The cheerleading championships will be broadcast on the NFHS network, a subscriber service.

www.nfhsnetwork.com/associations/osaa/cheerleading-and-dance