Submitted Photo The Minot North Cheer team had success at the Best of the Midwest cheer competition. The Lady Sentinels prepare to host the NDCCA state championships on February 7.

The Minot North Sentinels cheerleading won their first event this competition season. The Sentinels were crowned Grand Champions at The Best of the Midwest cheer competition Saturday, January 18.

The Sentinels stole the crown from the Minot High cheer team who have won the last three years in a row.

In only their second year competing and being such a young team The Best of the Midwest was a big win for the Minot North girls.

“I was excited to finally do our routine,” Alina Kibbler, team captain for Sentinel cheer team. “I was so happy and proud [when we won].”

Kibbler also competed in the triple threat event with Ashley Carr and Peyton Olson. These three Sentinels also pulled off a first place win for their triple threat event.

As a team Minot North competed in the cheer/dance routine, timeout and game day. The Sentinals also had several girls compete in individual and group events.

To earn their title the Sentinels won first place in the cheer/dance routine event. It’s a two minute thirty second routine that consists of two halves of music and one cheer where they stunt, dance, tumble and jump.

The cheer/dance routine contains much more dancing then the other events, allowing teams to show off more creative choreography. In this event, teams are judged off of everything they do- timing, choreography, jumps, stunts, ect. With 22 girls in the Sentinals routine there were a lot of chances for mistakes to happen.

“We’ve been practicing this routine since August… It’s a lot of preparation,” said coach Carly Johnson. “It’s pretty much year round, constantly working and trying to improve [the team].”

With months of preparation the young Minot North team worked their way up to finishing in first place at the prestigious event.

Minot North also placed second as a team in both time out and game day events. The timeout event is set up similar to how cheerleaders lead and perform cheers during halftime at basketball games.

The game day event is also primarily based on performing cheers at a game. The athletes perform their fight song and sideline routine in front of judges, where they are scored on their skills and ability to engage a crowd.

The Sentinels had girls competing in jump solo, tumble solo and dynamic duo events. Minot North once again put all three of these up on the podium with third pace finishes.

Even though many of the events at this competition were team events the Sentinels did have one girl stand out, Vreelyn Nygaard. Earning the most combined points for the three individual events Nygaard was named the Triple Crown Champion for the meet.

In between cheering at basketball games the Sentinels will host the North Dakota Competitive Cheer Association (NDCCA) state cheer competition at Minot North Saturday, February 15.

“It’s super fun, [the girls] really do a great job of balancing the fact that a lot of them are in a lot of [events]. They work really hard for it which makes our jobs a lot easier,” co-coach Selana Gaustchi commented.