Bulldogs Rev Up Spirit

DAYTON - The Dayton cheer squad this football season will be focusing on adding tougher stunts to their routines as well as supporting athletes of all sports in the school and throughout the community.

Head Coach AJ Walker said he has eight cheerleaders for football and seven cheerlead- ers for basketball this year. He is assisted by Jana Eaton and Emily Schlenz, a 2010 Dayton High School graduate.

From July 16 through July 21 the squad attended cheer camp and the team has been practicing since Aug. 15. The squad boasts four returners.

Walker said before school starts, the squad is working on cheers and chants, but not stunts yet. Though, the squad will cer- tainly be building up to tougher skills in the air this year. Walker said he most wants to have a group of girls able to toss one of them high up in the air.

"My goal is to be able to perform basket tosses," Walker said. "And for the girls to have a great experience."

The squad didn't master basket tosses last year because of injuries and stunt group changes.

"The different seasons changed it up," he said.

This year he said the team's strengths are beautiful jumps and sharp motions and the squad has been working on those skills the most. Also, the cheerleaders are yelling loud enough for the whole town to hear when the Bulldogs score a touchdown.

The weakness of the squad will be stunting because there are many new girls on the team, Walker said. There have already been some injuries and illnesses that have pushed back stunting for a while.

Homecoming has been set for Oct. 5 and that event keeps the cheer squad in Dayton very busy. The group is in charge of planning the entire homecoming dance, Eaton said, as well as organizing spirit performances and activities.

The squad is also looking forward to hosting junior cheer camp again this season. The cheer squad invites younger children in the community to attend practices to learn a cheer routine that is performed at a home football game. Junior cheer camp will be held Sept. 18, 19 and 20 with the perfor- mance at the Bulldog football game on Sept. 21.

The squad is also keeping busy organizing and executing fundraisers to get their uniforms paid for.

"It's always expensive," Eaton said.

The cheer squad will be parking cars at the Walla Walla County Fair and Frontier Days on Sept. 2 and are currently selling sponsor spaces on their boxes.

Walker said in addition to taking care of fundraising and turning out great performances at football games, he wants to squad to be more supportive of all school sports. He and the team are working on ideas to make that happen this season.

Captain Chelsey Martin will be taking the skills she learned as co-captain last year to lead the squad in the right direction. She is excited to be a best friend to her teammates and really be someone they can count on.

For the team, she wants to continue mastering all of the skills cheering requires and wants to add more dances to their performances.

But, Martin also wants ev- eryone to know the squad this year is going to be more than just a group of cheerleaders.

"We're here to cheer and make (ourselves) good role models to younger kids in the community. We want to repre- sent ourselves, the school and the community well."

Dayton Cheer Roster

Chelsey Martin

Taija Kinamon

Haley Puckett

Caitlyn Robins

Lexus Ward

Morgan Fatheree

Shandre Dallolio

Cheyenne Gilley