Last Saturday, cheerleaders attended the Tournament of Champions in Dodge City.

Games began Thursday and ended on Saturday at the United Wireless Arena. 

“It is a three-day basketball tournament,”  junior Kaylee Kurman said. “MHS gets to participate and the [cheerleaders] cheered for the two left games.” 

The Dodge City pep band, drill team and cheerleaders performed at all the games with performances throughout the tournament. 

“For me it was very fun,” senior cheerleader Bella Lane said. “Cheering in a big stadium was great and our performance.”

For the cheer attraction the cheerleaders were sent two videos of dances to perform. It took about two weeks to get the dances perfected. 

“We had to practice [the dances] to perform with the other cheerleading teams,” Lane said.

The other teams were Dodge City, Campus, Goddard Eisenhower, Maize, Olathe East, Wichita East and Wichita Heights. This year’s TOC looked different from last years but with an adjusted schedule it remained possible.

“Compared to past years [TOC] it wasn’t as well planned,” Lane said. “Dodge City didn’t plan as they normally do but it was still fun.”

This year the MHS Boys Basketball team placed seventh out of eight, which put a dent on the fun of the event.

“Cheering at the first game was really aggressive,” Lane said. “There were a lot of fouls and the boys ended up losing the game.”

Each cheer team had individual performances that were in front of the other cheer teams. 

“My goal was to do a very good job,” Kurman said. “I wanted to represent MHS as a good team.”

Kurman said the team was evaluated in several ways during the event. 

“It was an All-Around TOC,” Kurman said. “Your poise, your attitude, your sets, etc. were being watched.”

Senior Meredith Graves won that award for that category. 

At the end of TOC there was an academic reward that was the highest weighted GPA, won by senior Bella Lane. It wasn’t a competition where they had to compete and weren’t necessarily judged.

Beyond the competition aspect, the TOC meant the cheer team got to hang out for two days straight, which they enjoyed. 

“Traveling with the team was fun,” Kurman said. “We got to play games and have good bonding time together.”