Cheerleading
continued from page 1
“partner competition,” and, of
course, the Duck himself will enter
the mascot competition.
The often-underappreciated
cheerleaders have been working
even more than usual on their rou
tine and say they’re excited to finally
be getting down to business.
“I’ve been nervous all week, with
the sweaty palms and short breath
and all that,” senior cheerleader
Amber Harshbarger said. “It’s bad.”
Harshbarger is a “flyer,” one of
two distinct categories of cheerlead
ers that fans may not recognize. The
flyers, who focus mainly on stunts
and throws, are separate from
dancers, who don’t do stunts. Raish
said Oregon is one of the few pro
grams in the country to have sepa
rate dancers and flyers.
There are 12 flyers, 12 dancers
and 12 men on the 36-member Ore
gon squad, but the Ducks will send
nine flyers, two dancers and 11 men
to the competition.
When the squad performed its
routine in front of the Pit Crew at
halftime of a men’s game against
Washington State, the crowd gave
the Ducks a standing ovation.
“When you have people you know
there cheering you on, it’s amazing,”
Davis said. “To be doing it in front of
them, and a cheering crowd, is be
yond belief.”
The men, Raish said, are the most
overlooked component of the team.
“People will ask me, ‘How are
your girls doing?”’ Raish said. “I’ll
say ‘My girls — and my guys — are
doing just fine.’”
It may be a man’s world, but it be
lpngs to the women. At least accord
ing to senior Ryan Long.
“They have a lot more material to
learn,” said Long, a veteran cheer
leader. “There’s a lot more pressure
on them to perform.”
That pressure leads to often back
breaking work hours as the Ducks
try to improve. The team spends 2
to 3 hours every day practicing, and
that doesn’t include the necessary
weightlifting and local appearances,
or the community service that Raish
requires. And of course, they have to
Men's
continued from page 7
opportunity to play... and his ener
gy was great,” Kent said. “We’ll
reevaluate the situation again on
Saturday.”
Oregon hosts California at 6 p.m.
Saturday.
“We are a force to be reckoned
with,” Crosswhite said. “We’re go
ing to take it to Cal. They put iron
us down there and we want to get
them in here.”
The Bears (15-4, 8-2), who de
feated Oregon State, 84-71, Thurs
day, beat the Ducks, 88-72, Jan. 9
in Berkeley.
“We have to win Saturday’s
game,” Kent said.
Contact the senior sports reporter
at adamjude@dailyemerald.com
com
Adam Amato Emerald
The Oregon cheerleaders will enter the team competition and a pairs competition.
go to all the games.
They are, in short, varsity-sport
type hours.
“We get funding from the Athletic
Department, and they house us and
do a great job taking care of us, but
we’re not an NCAA-recognized
sport,” Raish said. “We have to raise
all our own money.”
The cheerleaders did, in fact, raise
their own money to make the trip to
nationals. They charged for appear
ances, had auctions, and had one
very prominent sugar daddy: Duck
announcer Don Essig, who voluntar
ily sold “It Never Rains at Autzen
Stadium” T-shirts to benefit the
cheerleading squad.
All that money comes down to two
and a half minutes of cheerleading
wizardry in the middle of Las Vegas.
“What’s hard to believe is that it’s
taken two full months to perfect two
and a half minutes,” Raish said.
Two months of work for a two-and
a-half-minute routine. To these cheer
leaders, that tradeoff is beautiful.
Contact the sports editor
atpeterhockaday@dailyemerald.com.
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