Spirit Squad performs with other Mountain West schools

LAS VEGAS—Utah State University’s Spirit Squad performed in an all-Western Conference semi-final halftime show between Boise State University and San Diego State Tuesday night. 

Each team got a turn to perform with the court to themselves; for the finale, all of them performed on the court at the same time. 

The Spirit Squad joined with the other teams in the conference earlier in the day and practiced what each team would do.  

When the team is travelling out of state, they practice right before the event they perform in, which is different from how they practice at home.

“Every morning at 6 A.M., so it’s kind of just like a brutal grind,” Chase Edwards, a USU stuntman, said. 

Edwards decided to try out for cheer in high school because he didn’t want to do any other sport. 

“I can do a backflip,” Edwards said, so he tried out for cheer. 

The Spirit Squad performed with the Air Force’s cheerleading team as well. Scott Winger, a stuntman for Air Force, was interviewed as well. 

His team has learned many of its techniques while getting ready for competitions. It also does not do the same things the other cadets in the Air Force do. According to Winger, this is intercollegiate athlete status. 

“I practice instead of going to directed development time, which is training with a squadron,” Winger said.

Ashlynn Simonsen, a flyer for the Aggies, spoke on the practice before the performance.

“It was really fun,” she said. “It’s really cool to see everyone and like all the different dynamics and how everyone practices differently.”

Cheerleading, like any athletic endeavor, requires performing with spontaneity.  

“We’re pretty good at, like throwing things together and like looking pretty good,” Simonsen said. 

The Aggies’ performances and routines are more relaxed, and Simonsen feels that her team is more confident than the others who performed. 

“We kind of just, like, play a lot easier than I feel like a lot of the other teams,” Simonsen said. 

Her stunting partner is Edwards, who throws her up in the air, and they work together throughout the year. 

“You can, like get super good on like one person,” Simonsen said. 

Edwards said his favorite move to do with Ashlynn is the “minus,” which is when he lifts her up and she stands on his hand with one foot, as opposed to a “Q.P.,” which is when the flyer stands with two feet. 

The high-launched basket tosses she performs with the team are 20-25 feet in the air. 

“It can be scary, but you just can’t think; you just have to do it. Send it,” Simonsen said. 

When asked about comparisons between the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum and the Thomas and Mack Center, Edwards said, “The Spectrum is definitely a unique place, but it has a certain energy that I always miss when I go somewhere else.”