COLLEGE CHEERLEADING: EC FULL OF SECTION 4 ATHLETES AS THEY PREPARE TO SEND THREE TEAMS TO NATIONALS (24 PHOTOS) (2024-04-10)

By Brian Fees
Southern Tier Sports Report
ELMIRA — The Elmira College cheer team heads to nationals this week, and this year they are hoping to bring home multiple trophies.

The Soaring Eagles, who finished second at nationals a year ago, now have a co-ed cheer team, an all-girls cheer team, and a dance team competing at the NCA College Nationals at Daytona Beach. Nationals starts Thursday. 

“It’s huge, it’s such a great opportunity for all of us to be together,” Jordan Gannon said of having three teams this year. “It’s just like having a family, it’s awesome.”

This year the Soaring Eagles have a number of Section IV athletes on the team. Horseheads’ Mary Benjamin and Olivia Micknich are both on the team, and Vestal (Gannon and Lauren Allen) and Chenango Forks (Morgan McGuigan and Tierney Daniels) also have alumni each on the team. Elmira’s Natasia Reynolds and Kaela Dirose of Binghamton are on the team as well.

“For us new people coming in, I think it’s a really exciting experience to have multiple teams competing and have the bond we all have together,” Allen said.

Many of the Section IV athletes grew up watching Elmira College and are excited to now be cheering for them.

“Me and Live have grown up around here,” Benjamin said. “We have watched Elmira College grow throughout the years, so it’s awesome for us to both be on the team now.”

“Same thing for Jordan and I,” Allen said. “We went to high school together for all four years, so watching it and being able to come here has been a great experience.”

For Natasia Reynolds, she went to high school in Elmira and now it’s special to be cheering for her hometown team.

“It’s awesome,” she said. “As a kid I used to watch Elmira College all the time, so it’s cool to be on the team and be able to experience the whole college cheer thing.”

Some of the cheerleaders grew up practicing in the same spots they do now with the Soaring Eagles.

“It’s super special because both Mary and I practiced in the same practice center growing up as Elmira College, so it was super full circle to be able to perform and practice in the same center,” Micknich said.

Many of the cheerleaders from Section IV grew up at least having competed against each other growing up.

“Obviously Morgan and Tierney, me and Lauren definitely knew them well,” Gannon said. “I can’t really say I knew any of the other ones, we definitely competed against each other, but I didn’t really know them that well before coming in here. But, getting to become close to everyone and getting to know other people is amazing.”

“I have known Tierney for years, not even just through high school, but through all-star cheer too,” Allen said. “I have known of them (the other Section IV girls), we have obviously competed against each other before, but now we are friends.”

The athletes often looked up to each other growing up in the same section.

“It’s super special because even though we are the same age, I’ve always looked up to Tierney and it’s super nice to learn things now in the same place, instead of an hour away,” Benjamin said.

Having a successful college program right inside Section IV has given plenty of opportunities to area athletes.

“It’s so nice, and Elmira being so close is special for all the Section IV cheerleaders,” Daniels said. “Because, we didn’t grow up in like a big state with the all-star gyms, so this was the most higher level of cheerleading we can reach and it’s so close to us.”

Many of the athletes grew up watching Elmira College, dreaming of one day getting a chance to cheer at that kind of level themselves.

“I saw them a lot,” Gannon said. “Because, whenever we would do a competition we would always come to the Elmira competition with my high school and it was awesome. If anyone asked me like five years ago when I was in high school if I was going to be in the Elmira cheer team, I never would have said yeah, but now it’s amazing to say I am.”

In years past the Soaring Eagles had the co-ed cheer team go to nationals. Having three teams going just opens up more and more opportunities for athletes.

“It’s so exciting for our program,” Daniels said. “Especially for the returners, because last year it was just one team and now to watch our program grow is super exciting.

“It’s super fun, and it’s super great, because this is such a small school, it’s such a close knit community. Especially between our three teams so everyone has friends on each team, and it’s fun to watch and cheer on your friends from other teams.”

Having three teams means having a support system behind you at all times.

“We have a great relationship between, specifically, the two cheer teams because we practice together,” Daniels said. “The feedback of each other is great, and everyone is super supportive of each other.”

“I genuinely think one of my favorite things about being a cheerleader is cheering on my other friends who are on the other teams,” Benjamin said.

The teams all are supportive of each other.

“We talk about something on the team, it’s like talking to each other,” Micknich said. “So, it’s nice to have another team watching you and cheer you on so it’s not just the people on the mat. It’s everybody.

“I think we want the best for each other. One of the strong suits with our program is support, so we always want to push each other as far as we can go.”

“It’s very motivating to have other people that aren’t your family, but they are like your family, just to cheer you on and be supportive,” McGuigan said.

The Soaring Eagles have a strong combination of Section IV athletes, and athletes from all kinds of other places.

“It’s definitely different to be combined with the all-star cheerleading girls,” Daniels said. “Because, all of us Section IV girls are strictly high school cheerleaders born and bred. We never had the opportunity to do all star, so mashing up all star is great. They learn from us for sure and I’ve learned a lot from the all-star kids who are here now.”

Having so many different people on the teams means more set of eyes watching what you are doing, and lending some advice.

“That’s part of being a cheerleader, you are going to get new eyes, new perspectives,” Allen said. “You aren’t going to see everything you are doing wrong or right.”

Three teams means three chances for EC to find success at nationals.

“I think it’s a beautiful team to recognize what we actually do coming from the cheer and dance standpoint,” Dirose said.

And, earning multiple high finishes at nationals would be special.

“If we brought all three trophies home it would be insane,” Benjamin said.

The ultimate goal is three national titles.

“It’s super exciting, especially since last year we are coming off a second-place loss and now we are coming with three teams, so we just want to clean sweep it, win all three,” Daniels said.
————
IN PHOTOS: Elmira College’s athletes practice for nationals. . . PHOTOS BY BRIAN FEES.