On Tuesday night, St. Edward's University unveiled its newest NCAA women's varsity program with a STUNT preview showcase. The showcase introduced the first team in school history and featured an abbreviated performance covering the foundations of the new sport.
The Hilltoppers delivered in front of a packed RAC crowd, meeting the moment with a performance that set a strong foundation to build on for its season opener in Dallas on Feb. 21 at the Dallas Baptist University Tournament.
STUNT distills cheerleading down to its athletic and technical components and organizes them in a head-to-head competition against another team over four quarters. The first three quarters demonstrate a specific aspect of STUNT, and the fourth combines them into a final routine. Judges score teams on the accuracy and execution of their choreography and technique.
"The most exciting thing is it relies on technique and execution of a routine and nothing else," St. Edward's Head STUNT and Cheerleading Coach Sean Garland says. "I was able to attend last year's STUNT National Championships and watch some of the national powerhouses and a few of my former athletes. You get to see the focus on technique and where execution is the deciding factor."
Garland believes building the program is like learning a routine, confidently mastering the details of one component before moving on to the next.
"We're going to build a foundation where St. Edward's always performs clean and consistent," Garland explains. "Our philosophy is to perfect what we can do and then build on that."
St. Edward's will open its first season with a team with extensive cheerleading experience. Seniors
DANICA MORNINGSTAR and
JAHENNESSY PARRA were on the cheerleading team their first year when the program operated at the club level. Morningstar showed her leadership by helping the team transition back to a varsity sport. Along with junior
CAI GANT, she is now team captain of the first STUNT team.
"[Morningstar and Gant] have sat with me in my office on crazy days, they've sat with me in my office on fantastic days, they gather all the girls when things are getting rough, and they never give up," Garland said of his captains. "They've taken the reins as leaders, teaching our newcomers our expectations and everything expected of a St. Edward's student-athlete."
Morningstar and Gant serve as the team's bases. In STUNT, bases lift, throw, and catch the flyer launched into the air during routines. Morningstar is the main base, standing directly under the flyer, but can also serve as a back spotter, catching the flyer and keeping the stunt stable. First-year
ELENA LA ROSA is the team's primary flyer, and senior
KENNEDY JOHNSON is a key component of the team's jumps and tumbling.
"Danica is so versatile she can contribute in many facets of a routine," Garland says. "Elena and Kennedy are elite jumpers and tumblers, and Danica is also a strong, intermediate tumbler. St. Edward's cheerleading has had some strong performances at the national level, and a lot of the work we've done this year is translating those elements into a game setting."
Garland's long-term goal is to build a cheerleading program that competes at an elite level in nationals and use that to build depth for the STUNT team. He has plenty of help developing that talent in assistant coach Sidney McIntosh, who competed collegiately in STUNT and cheer, along with graduate assistants Celestine Auffroy and Brian Kulhanek Jr., who've been mainstays of the cheer program the past few years.
"There's been a lot to learn in a short period. Not only are we learning routines, I'm evaluating where everyone fits to maximize our scoring," Garland says. "This is a close, coachable group, and the women are very supportive of each other."
St. Edward's will compete in two regular-season tournaments, one road game, and host a tournament before closing the regular season on the road. The Hilltoppers start on Feb. 21 with three games over two days in a tournament hosted by Dallas Baptist.
The following weekend, they play seven games in a tournament hosted by TWU, including LSC opponents Texas A&M-Kingsville, Texas Woman's University, and St. Mary's. The Battle of the Saints against St. Mary's will be in San Antonio on March 5. Then, the Hilltoppers will host a tournament from March 7 to 8 before closing the regular season at Texas A&M-Kingsville.
"I'm excited to get them on the floor because they've been training hard and are antsy to enter a competition setting," Garland says. "For the seniors to get this experience is rewarding because they've put so much into this over the years."
The Lone Star Conference Championships are March 28-29 in Frisco, Texas. Dallas Baptist won the first Lone Star Conference Championship, defeating St. Mary's 20-5, led by LSC STUNT Athlete of the Year Mariah Contreras.
