Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
The Bulldog cheerleaders stir up the home crowd at their team's away game against the Stanfied Tigers Friday night. Incoming coach A.J. Walker wants his squad to perform at halftime during each home game in Dayton so local fans can see all the girls' hard work.
DAYTON - It will be a building year for the Dayton High School cheer squad and the team has a new coach who wants to focus on building the program.
"I just really want to build the program and make it strong," said A.J. Walker, the team's coach.
Walker, a newcomer to Dayton's program, is no newcomer to cheerleading.
He said he cheered in high school and was on a competition all-star cheer squad called Northwest Elite. He spent the summer coaching part-time at an all-star cheer gym in the Tri-Cities and is excited to take Dayton's talent to the next level. He said he has dreams of opening a gym for competitive cheerleading locally, but is happy to be focusing on Dayton cheer at this time.
"I just want the girls to grow and learn as much as possible," Walker said. "I'm really excited to show Dayton what they have accomplished this summer."
Last year's coach Kassandra Dedloff had to step down from her position to care for her son Jayden, who has intractable epilepsy, a rare seizure disorder.
The squad, which has 13 girls and eight returners, has been practicing with Walker since June.
Walker said the squad is focusing on yelling louder, sharp motions, cleaning up cheers, stunting and dances so they're more in sync.
"We want to make sure everyone is stunting safely and trying to be a better performer all the way around," Walker said.
The team hadn't taken on high-flying basket toss stunts with past coaches, Walker said, and the team will learn to toss girls higher and will work on one-footed stunts.
His goal is to have the squad perform during halftime at each home game so the crowd can see all of its hard work.
What Walker is really excited about is the male cheerleader he has signed up for basketball cheerleading. This will add more tumbling and stunting into the team's performances, Walker said.
Bulldogs Cheer Roster
Cheer Advisers: AJ Walker, Jana Eaton
Cheer Squad: Elise Button, Abby Chapman, April
Davis, Colleen Delp, Danica DePaulo, Carly
Grimshaw, Chelsey Martin, Kenndra Haney,
Taija Kinamon, Molly Weppler, Caitlyn Robins
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